Among the proposed changes: calling the USA’s slave trade the “Atlantic triangular trade” and minimizing the role of Thomas Jefferson, who espoused a strict separation of church and state.
The new standards set curriculum for millions of Texas school children and lay the groundwork for textbooks and standardized tests for a decade. But the changes could also carry outsized influence because Texas is a large state — textbooks sold to other states often carry content tailored to Texas specifications.
On Thursday, former U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, a one-time Houston superintendent, said the proposed standards are too detailed and “take away a lot of the latitude of the teachers” in designing curricula. He also worries that teachers, focused increasingly on getting their students to pass state skills tests, will be “very, very concerned about the standards” and ensure that students learn the content.
Paige testified before the board on Wednesday about the growing politicization of education. In an interview Thursday, he said he understands the point of view of several state board members, who this week said they are simply bringing balance to a set of standards that skew leftward. But Paige said, “This political swaying between left and right is retarding our ability to have an effective educational delivery system in the United States of America.”
Paige, who is African-American, said the proposed Texas standards “drastically understate the influence of slavery and the Civil Rights movement in our national story – it almost suggests that students will be learning that our liberties – and especially African-Americans’ freedoms – were kind of gently acquired. The liberty and freedoms that African-Americans enjoy were born out of struggle – deep struggle. {hellip} nobody just woke up in the morning and said, ‘O.K., you’re free.”
NAACP President Ben Jealous said he was “stunned” to learn of the change in reference to slavery. “You can’t take slavery out of the slave trade,” he said. “Our children need to be taught the whole truth – not half of it.”
Texas education standards spark debate on slavery, politics
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