What we believe matters. It is during our primary and secondary education that we establish the knowledge and beliefs that make up who we are going to become.
Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6
It is Texas that decides for most of the nation what will be taught in America’s classrooms and therefore what the next generation will understand about the past, to influence the future.
The long-running ideological dispute over what gets taught in Texas classrooms flared anew over proposed history textbooks Tuesday, with academics decrying lessons they said exaggerate the importance of Christian values on the nation’s Founding Fathers while conservatives complained of anti-American, pro-Islam biases.
The Board of Education will approve new history textbooks for the state’s 5-plus million public school students in November. But it heard hours of complaints about 104 proposed books during a sometimes heated public hearing.
What is decided by the Texas Board of Education will effect the nation. Why? Because of the millions of books purchased by Texas the books are much less expensive for schools across the fruited plains.
Debates over academic curriculum and textbooks have for years thrust Texas’ Board of Education into the national spotlight, sparking battles over issues such as how to teach climate change and natural selection. In 2010, while approving the history curriculum standards that this year’s round of new books are supposed to follow, conservatives on the board required that students evaluate whether the United Nations undermines U.S. sovereignty and study the Congressional GOP’s 1994 Contract with America.
The board is fairly even in its balance of liberals vs conservatives, Christian worldviews vs godless worldviews.
All of Tuesday’s comments are sent to the publishers, who can provide responses in defense of what’s written, or make changes, before final approval of the books.
Some community leaders complained that proposed books downplayed Hispanic accomplishments, incorrectly depicted jihad as a call to holy war, or were biased in favor of Israeli points of view in Middle East conflicts. But conservative activists said they didn’t go far enough in accurately depicting religious extremism in modern terrorism.
Too many Christians stay on the sidelines in such discussion, not wanting to get involved. The bible calls on Christians to take an active roll in directing the education and worldview of their children. Not just their own children but those of the community.
