TEA CURRICULUM CHANGE

Greetings-

It's with a heavy heart and extremely downcast countenance that I bring the news from the home front on this measure that the TEA is in the process of debating.

The Texas Education Agency is voting on sweeping changes that will affect the social studies curriculum in grades K-12. What is disturbing are the following changes:

-adding language that the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principle
-positive references to the Moral Majority
-positive references to the NRA
-positive references to the GOP's 'Contract with America'
-Minimizing the role of Thomas Jefferson due to the fact that he advocated separation of church and state
-requirements that students learn about the 'unintended' consequences of affirmative action
-assert that the right to bear arms is essential in a democratic society..

and the grand finale:

-Renaming the slave trade the 'Atlantic Triangle Trade'.

This is disturbing on many levels. My first reaction was of anger, and then, I was incredibly sad. Sad that we as a nation, in our lust to establish our own political interests would take the choice away from our children to obtain a free education. This education is not free, as it is skewed towards certain political interests. Additionally, to undermine the slave trade as the 'Atlantic Triangle Trade', is more horrific, and in fact, suggests, that slavery, was not one of the greatest horrors known in the world, but, that it was simply a Wall Street business deal gone awry. "Unintended consequences" of affirmative action? What are those? To add more fuel to the fire, the TEA board members aer using words such as 'Christianity' and 'patriotism' to advance this ridiculous agenda. As a Christian, this infuriates me, because Christianity is about inclusion, not exclusion. Patriotism is acknowledging past wrongs, and rights, and still being a proud and active member of your country. To suggest that this curriculum is Christian, and patriotic, is a gross misuse of both terms. The TEA board members, particularly, Don McLeroy, and Cynthia Noland Dunbar should be ashamed for their lackadaisical use of two terms that they clearly do not understand. Factually, as a colleague pointed out to me, the Founding Fathers of this nation actually were not Christian, but occultist, which means, that there is Christian logic that guided the principles of the Founding Fathers.

Also, my question is this: when our President was about to make his speech to the kids about staying in school, such 'noble' minds as Glenn Beck and his followers had already made the predetermination that this speech was an indoctrination, and words such as 'fascism', and 'communism', in addition to the already overused 'socialism' were used to describe a speech that has not been made. To include, and undermine certain history that does not cater to one's interest, does this not suggest glimmerings of the same type of 'fascism' that this vanguard is suggesting? Implementing a program where only one side is presented, and presenting positive images of a political agenda..isn't that somehow indoctrination, since the choice is taken away from our children? How can we as a nation employ and educate some of the best and brightest, if we do not know who we are as Americans to begin with? Slavery, the Civil War, the KKK, the Civil Rights Movement, the Battle at Little BigHorn, the discovery of America, the Battle at the Alamo, and the struggle of America to free themselves from the tyranny of the British ALL are American history. Regardless of how pretty, or not so pretty is was, social studies/history are used as a lesson to demonstrate how as a nation, we rose up from the ashes like phoenixes, and were able to repair the social ills of our nation, and how not to commit those same grievances against the citizenry again.

The TEA'S actions....now are they taking us one step back, or one step further into healing our social ills?

I have my response. Think about it!

-DG