Changing history books endangers education, future
By: Marie Leonard
Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: Opinion
Earlier this month the Texas State Board of Education agreed to postpone debate over what information will go in high school history textbooks until this March. These changes are grabbing the attention of the local and national media because the proposed ideas would rewrite history with a huge slant to the right, leaving out topics such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, Hispanic civil-rights groups and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Instead of learning about liberal and minority-rights groups, students will learn about primarily conservative groups from the late twentieth century including the National Rifle Association and the Moral Majority. Even more ridiculous was the proposal by one of the board members to remove hip-hop from the history books. However, according to the Dallas Morning News, the proposal was shot down and hip-hop, rock 'n' roll, the Beat Generation and the Chicano Mural Movement will be allowed to remain in the history books as examples of cultural movements in the United States.
Board member Don McLeroy from College Station came up with part of the proposed ideas because he said our history was "already rife with leftist political periods and events - the populists, the progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society." I don't know about McLeroy, but the aforementioned events are all positive parts of our history, in my opinion. The progressive movement was a time where significant social changes took place and corruption was exposed by muckraking journalists who criticized the oil industry and the meat packing industry just to name a few. The progressive era also saw a few key amendments and laws come into play including women's suffrage, the income tax and the direct election of Senators. The New Deal was created by President Franklin Roosevelt in order to help Americans during the Great Depression. The New Deal dealt with banks, farmers, the railroads and labor unions and it also created the Social Security Act and the Works Progress Administration. The Great Society program created by President Johnson drew upon ideas from the New Deal and the New Frontier, which was President Kennedy's platform. The Great Society focused on education and urban problems, and its key goals were to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.
Instead of learning about liberal and minority-rights groups, students will learn about primarily conservative groups from the late twentieth century including the National Rifle Association and the Moral Majority. Even more ridiculous was the proposal by one of the board members to remove hip-hop from the history books. However, according to the Dallas Morning News, the proposal was shot down and hip-hop, rock 'n' roll, the Beat Generation and the Chicano Mural Movement will be allowed to remain in the history books as examples of cultural movements in the United States.
Board member Don McLeroy from College Station came up with part of the proposed ideas because he said our history was "already rife with leftist political periods and events - the populists, the progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society." I don't know about McLeroy, but the aforementioned events are all positive parts of our history, in my opinion. The progressive movement was a time where significant social changes took place and corruption was exposed by muckraking journalists who criticized the oil industry and the meat packing industry just to name a few. The progressive era also saw a few key amendments and laws come into play including women's suffrage, the income tax and the direct election of Senators. The New Deal was created by President Franklin Roosevelt in order to help Americans during the Great Depression. The New Deal dealt with banks, farmers, the railroads and labor unions and it also created the Social Security Act and the Works Progress Administration. The Great Society program created by President Johnson drew upon ideas from the New Deal and the New Frontier, which was President Kennedy's platform. The Great Society focused on education and urban problems, and its key goals were to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.
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