Alex Constantine - May 18, 2010
Salem-News.com | May-17-2010
(DALLAS, Tx.) - The petition group Care2 says school textbooks in America have quietly been manipulated by right wing forces in America for a long time. As U.S. test scores drop below those of impoverished countries, some are saying it is time to demand sweeping change.
"McCarthyism wasn't such a bad thing after all" seems to be the mantra of a small band of right-wing extremists, who are running the program that determines what kind of education your kid will receive.
These political extremists want to teach America's kids a narrow and scaled down politically correct version of American history, where words as descriptive and innocent as "capitalist" finds its way onto the list of words "not allowed" in textbooks.
Care2 says, "The ultra-conservative Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) made 'corrections' to the perceived left-wing bias in curricula written by teachers. Because it's such a big market, books that cater to Texas could find their way across the country."
The Texas SBOE took the curricula proposed by teachers and made more than 100 changes to "correct" the perceived left-wing bias even though NONE of the ultra-conservative majority are experts in any academic discipline and many are explicitly anti-science, Care2 says.
They want people to tell textbook publishers: "Don't feed a far-right wing version of American history to our kids".
They say millions of children could be taught inaccurate and politicized content if the Texas SBOE bends textbook publishers to their will.
"Since Texas is one of the largest textbook markets in the country, material written to cater to the Texas curricula could find its way into textbooks across the country unless textbook publishers take a stand."
Care2 urges Americans: "Stop Texas extremists from rewriting history taught in America's schools". Kids should get the real facts, not an ultra-conservative version of the facts.
Care2 hopes you can help stop right-wing extremists from rewriting history, the group also wants to help reduce nuclear weapons worldwide.
Here is the take action link: Care2 Petition site - Don't Let the Texas SBOE Rewrite History
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may172010/republican-influence.php
