01-17-2010, 01:23 AM
[url="http://cbs11tv.com/local/Texas.board.of.2.1429995.html"]Texas School Board Defers History Curriculum Vote[/url]
Quote:AUSTIN (AP) ââ¬â¢
Texas Board Debates High School History Standards
(1/15/2010)
TX History Textbook Plan Skips Liberal Politicians
(8/21/2009)
After tackling hip-hop, McCarthyism and immigration, the State Board of Education abruptly ended consideration of new standards for teaching social studies on Friday, delaying until March a tentative vote on the guidelines that could have an impact on classrooms nationwide.
The board had been expected to take a first vote on the guidelines later Friday, after several days of discussion on topics such as which historical figures to hold students accountable for learning and whether second-graders should be taught Aesop's Fables.
But as the debate stretched on, the board decided it needed to move on to finalizing details on new high school graduation requirements. Approving those requirements was deemed time-sensitive as students will soon begin to register for next year's classes.
The delay leaves discussion of a slew of issues regarding high school social studies, history and economics classes unfinished until the board's March meeting. A final vote on new standards will now be set for May.
Debate was heated at times as the guidelines will dictate what about 4.8 million K-12 students must learn in social studies, history and economics over the next decade. The standards also will be used by textbook publishers who develop material for the nation based on Texas, one of their largest markets.
On Friday, the board declined to strike the "Red Scare" from high school history classes, and added a reference to the Venona Papers, research that "confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government." It also agreed to require students to differentiate between "legal and illegal immigration" in a section on geography and changing demographic patterns.
An extended debate flared up when board member Don McLeroy proposed changing hip-hop to country in a section covering the impact of cultural movements on American society. His amendment failed.
"I support the hip-hop," said board member Pat Hardy, a Fort Worth Republican. "I do not like hip-hop -- can't stand it myself -- but I'm not 16. I think it's had, in many ways, a negative effect in our society and I think that when we don't discuss things, we don't know. To pretend it's not there is crazy."
Board member Terri Leo, a Republican from the Houston area, said hip-hop music contributes to bad behavior and anorexia in some of the students she teaches.
The board also rejected an effort to include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as an example of a significant political figure. Earlier this week, the board had added many more names to the list of historic figures elementary school students would be expected to learn.
"We're choking our kids with a list of names," board member Pat Hardy, a Republican from Fort Worth, said as astronauts James A. Lovell, Ellen Ochoa and Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low were added to the third-grade list.
Jose Antonio Navarro, a Texas revolutionary and contemporary of early Texas leader Stephen F. Austin, was added to the kindergarten curriculum in response to a public push for more examples of notable Mexican Americans.
Other discussion centered on whether first-graders are old enough to learn about the accountability of public officials. The board decided they were.
The board also debated the merits of having second-graders read Aesop's Fables, which will be included in the curriculum. After an initial recommendation and ensuing outcry, the board chose not to remove Christmas from a list of religious holidays and observances in a sixth-grade world cultures class.