Texan textbook proposals downplay Latino history

There’s a cliché that goes that “children are our future.” Yet if the Texas State Board of Education (TSBE) has their way another cliché would be more appropriate – tapando el sol con un dedo” (“blocking the sun by holding up one finger”).

The TSBE debated last week the content of history textbooks that will soon be used in Texan public schools. After days of sometimes heated discussion and public hearings the TSBE tentatively adopted to incorporate conservative elements such as the National Rifle Association, Moral Majority and the Heritage Foundation into the required curriculum.

The above recommendations are fine since it’s useful for children to learn about different perspectives. The problem, however, is the TSBE’s planned whitewashing of certain aspects of history including those with Latinos. Textbooks would no longer be obligated to discuss Latino civil rights groups such as LULAC and MALDEF. Despite becoming the first Latina to the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor could be a persona non grata in textbooks.

The politically divided TSBE passed other controversial amendments that one board member claimed were needed to balance out the history standards allegedly “rife with leftist political periods and events.” The TSBE’s decision could’ve been worse; the panel rejected suggestions to remove labor leader Cesar Chavez from textbooks as well as replacing hip-hop music with country music in the required curriculum.

The final vote on changing the curriculum has been delayed until March and will have large implications across the country. (Other states could adopt similar curriculums since Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks). It’s a detail that has alarmed one critic of the TSBE’s recommendations:

(Texas Freedom Network spokesman Dan) Quinn said the network is concerned that the education board will attempt to downplay the role of minorities — particularly Latinos — in Texas history, emphasize the role of faith and religion in American history and government and add or remove certain historical figures to or from Texas history.

“We call on the state board to listen to teachers and other educators who have crafted these standards instead of pushing their own political agendas,” Quinn said.

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Online Sources- USA TODAY, Daily Texan, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle