Curriculum Control

Before I entered library school I got a BA of Art History with a minor in history.  But that is not where my love of history began.  In the study of history we learn where we have been so that we might not repeat every mistake.  As my father always quoted, "Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it."  I took that to heart as a child and in high school had several amazing history teachers who continued to emphasize this view of history.

So, you can imagine my horror when I read this YALSA blog about the Texas Education Board's new conservatively bent history curriculum.  If any other state did this it would be disappointing and outrageous, but Texas wields economic power to decide the textbook publishing for the whole country.

This has been a problem for many years now and has lead to history texts for 11th grade to be at a lower and lower reading level.  Reading level, however, is a small issue compared to skewing the take on history.  I understand that I am a liberal in my views, but I believe that I can sort out facts well enough when they are presented to say that a decidedly conservative bent to history text books in not good for the accurate portrayal of our nation's past.  There are those who say that it is unpatriotic to teach American history in a way that is not flattering to our current political climate or government, but I will repeat my father's words, "Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it."  If we cannot learn to live with our past and learn from it, then we will continue to repeat our mistakes.

I will also point out briefly that it is a sign of a totalitarian regime when history is censored.  Stalin did it as did many others.  Perhaps I would not be so quick to judge if I had never learned such things in history classes, but I don't think it is the depictions of our enemies that are being changed in this curriculum.  I can think freely and critically about other countries but am asked to put on blinders about my own.  This is not "fair" or "balanced" nor is the vitriolic right wing media campaign that has encouraged such repugnant behavior out of the Texas Education Board.

I encourage everyone to find out how textbooks are chosen by your state or local education board and encourage them to fight for solid, accurate texts that reflect the best scholarship available not a personal viewpoint.