"To have César Chávez listed next to Ben Franklin" - as in the current standards - "is ludicrous," wrote evangelical minister Peter Marshall, one of six experts advising the state as it develops new curriculum standards for social studies classes and textbooks. [...] Marshall also questioned whether Thurgood Marshall, who argued the landmark case that resulted in school desegregation and was the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice, should be presented to Texas students as an important historical figure. He wrote that the late justice is "not a strong enough example" of such a figure.
One of the things I (don't particularly) miss about Texas is the over-the-top, completely out of control looniness evident in state politics on an almost daily basis? Separation of Church and State? Not in Texas, where the state GOP is owned lock, stock, and barrel by Evangelicals bent on using their literal interpretation of the Bible as the basis for state law. Public education? That's just a publicly-funded means for creating the next generation of Christian soldiers.
It seems clear that Barton and Marshall are less concerned with educating the children of Texas than with indoctrinating them with the tenets of Conservative Evangelical Christianity. After all, if you teach children to think critically, you run the risk of them deciding not to believe as you do. It's so much safer when you spend tax dollars indoctrinating children and molding them into the Christian warriors who will protect the status quo you value and ensure Texas' future as a godly Paradise. What would Jesus do? Well, if He lived in Texas, He'd probably be kicking Barton's and Marshall's asses from Sabine Pass to San Marcos.
This is what you get when unqualified political activists are given free reign to advocate for turning public education into thinly-veiled political and theocratic activism. For how can this generation be counted on to turn Texas into the glorious theocracy the state GOP desires if children aren't properly indoctrinated? If the children of Texas are taught to obey rather than think, you're talking about a powerful force at the disposal of those with the wherewithal and skill to manipulate and propagandize. Imagine a state full of children convinced that Barack Obama isn't a US citizen.
No, Texas doesn't have a monopoly on wingnuts willing to collapse the separation of Church and State in order to promote their theocratic agenda. Texas is just more nakedly aggressive in the pursuit of ignorance and reaction. And since Texas is one of the nation's largest buyers of textbooks, it has an outsized influence over what the rest of the country teaches their children.
Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war....
