Texas Tribune: How some Texas parents and historians say a new state curriculum glosses over slavery and racism

[Dennis Donovan]

Texas Tribune - How some Texas parents and historians say a new state curriculum glosses over slavery and racism

Education officials say the materials were designed to be age appropriate but critics argue they repeatedly omit key context and oversimplify history.

By Jaden Edison
Nov. 18, 2024
5 AM Central



A new Texas curriculum seeks to captivate first-grade students with a lesson on Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s historic estate long revered for its French neoclassical architecture and as a symbol of the founding father’s genius.

The lesson teaches about the Virginia property’s pulley system that opened doors, the mechanical clock that kept track of the days and the dumbwaiter that transported dinner from the kitchen to the dining room.

However, if the State Board of Education approves the curriculum when it meets this week, children could miss out on a more crucial aspect of Monticello’s history: It was built using the labor of enslaved people and occupied by hundreds of humans whom Jefferson enslaved.

Since it was proposed by the Texas Education Agency earlier this year, the elementary school reading and language arts curriculum has faced strong opposition from parents, advocates and faith leaders for its heavy use of biblical teachings, which critics say could lead to the bullying and isolation of non-Christian students, undermine church-state separation and grant the state far-reaching control over how children learn about religion.

But less attention has been given to how the curriculum teaches America’s history of racism, slavery and civil rights.

Some parents, academics and concerned Texans argue that the lessons strip key historical figures of their complexities and flaws while omitting certain context they say would offer children a more accurate understanding of America’s past and present.

/snip

[Lonestarblue]

1. When Hitler finally gained total power, he had the textbooks burned.

The Nazis then wrote textbooks that supported their ideology and propaganda. That is what Republican states are doing here, banning books that present facts and forcing schools to use books with serious Republican and extremist Christian bias.

With Trump’s nomination of Brendan Carr to head the FCC, social media will now be stopped from fact checking anything (not that they do much) and forced to allow every Republican lie on their platforms. The Nazification of America is now full steam ahead.

On another topic included in the post, one of my pet peeves about the Holocaust history taught in schools is that it was not only about the murder of 6 million Jews, horrific as that was. Hitler and the Nazis also killed millions of non-Jews estimated to be as high as 5 million. They targeted black people in Germany, gypsies, anyone of mixed race, gay men, those with mental and physical disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to him, and of course anyone who tried to help any of these groups. It’s important for students, actually everyone, to stop thinking of the Holocaust as solely a Jewish issue and thus for some people to think that they are not threatened because they are not Jews. The Republican focus on racial and biological purity threatens many groups of people.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Texas is trying to erase history

[MagickMuffin]

3. The Texas Legislature has ruined my beloved state

5th generation Texan and I don’t want to live here anymore. It just doesn’t feel like home to me anymore and I’m ashamed that the fundamentalist white nationalist white supremacy have got their claws in so deep it hurts. I don’t see how Texas can ever overcome it.

[maxrandb]

4. A PERFECT example of how "effed" up journalism is today

So, umm,...just a quick question there Texas Tribune.

Do "some" parents and historians "say" that the curriculum "glosses over slavery and racism"

or...and stay with me now...

Does the curriculum "actually" gloss over slavery and racism?"

You did actually look at the curriculum before you used the "some say" headline, right?