Texas Textbook Controversy
Modern day censorship in Texas
What is happening?
Who is behind this?
Why are these textbooks bad?
The kids in Texas and in schools that use these books are being deprived. Their education is one sided, biased and in some cases purely false. This is a problem because in a sense they are brainwashing them into thinking that Moses was a democratic leader and that Muslims are terrible people. The lack of exposure to different ideas such as evolution and the Big Bang Theory will not give kids the opportunity to believe in what they truly believe in. The education the kids will now receive will truly alter the future because today's educations system will matter when our generation will become in charge.
Why are they allowing this?
Events:
- In 2010 new curricular standards were made by The State Board of Education. Through a set of meeting the new curriculum standards won to a vote of 10 to 5 (McKinley Jr.).
- On September 17, 2013 students march through the University of Texas during the board of educations meeting on biology textbooks. Many participants were holding signs. Some include the sayings, "Stand up for science" and "Texas kids deserve a future" (Rich).
- In November of 2014 meeting were made to vote for more than 100 proposed textbooks. At first they could not gather enough votes but they eventually got enough votes for the books (Weissert).
- In between the years 2010 and 2014 many accusations were made against the books. The Texas Freedom Network funded a search of the books and found many inaccuracies (Taboada).
- In the 2015-16 school year children living in or in states where the books have been adopted in will have these books.
What people are saying?
“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians, they are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.” - Mary Helen Berlanga (McKinley Jr.). (Shown above)