To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE
Power to the Parents: Texas Wants Parents to Have Data Base and Rating System for Children's Textbooks, Alerting Them of Biases and Half-TruthsBarbara Cargill, Chair of the Texas State Board of Education, wants to make sure that Texas social studies textbooks are fair and balanced and that they focus more on American exceptionalism than American struggles. (Austin, TX)—[CBN News] The national debate over how to teach history is heating up in Texas, with the State Board of Education planning to hold a preliminary vote on history and social studies textbooks Tuesday afternoon. (Photo: Barbara Cargill/Facebook) Barbara Cargill, chair of the Texas State Board of Education, sits at the center of the debate that could shape how students view the United States and the world. The daughter of a World War II veteran, she is fighting for a conservative, positive view of the country that focuses on its heroes. "I grew up with stories about the wars and I knew the sacrifices that it had cost him and his friends," Cargill told CBN News about her father. "I think sometimes our students tend to take for granted the freedom that we have, and I think that some of the things we're seeing worldwide right now show us that we can't take that for granted," she said. Cargill said she wants to make sure that Texas social studies textbooks are fair and balanced and that they focus more on American exceptionalism than American struggles. "We need to teach about America, warts and all—but not just the warts" she said. If Cargill's view prevails, Texas social studies textbooks will emphasize a Judeo-Christian influence in the founding of our country, including a mention of Moses. Cargill also wants more accurate information on Islam. "In one of the textbooks the excerpt says that jihad means 'struggle.' And I think that our students need to learn that jihad means 'warfare to establish religion,'" she told CBN News. But groups like the Texas Freedom Network prefer a more liberal view of the country, our founding, and Islam. They say conservatives exaggerate the Christian influence in our country's founding and downplay mainstream concepts like climate science. The 15-member Texas Education Board will adopt social studies textbooks for all grades this week. They will appear in classrooms starting next Fall and be used for at least a half a dozen years if not longer. For both sides, it's a fight worth having. Five million children attend public school in Texas, making it the second-largest textbook market in the US. Those numbers motivate textbook publishers to conform to Texas standards. At the end of the day, however, parents can have the final say. A state law gives Texas school boards the power to buy whatever books they want, which provides an opportunity for parents to have input at the local level. It's why retired Lt. Col. Roy White, a former public school teacher, founded the Truth in Texas Textbooks Coalition. The organization has trained scores of volunteer reviewers to evaluate the host of textbooks that the state board is considering. "The end result is to provide an Angie's List rating system for that family in Midland or Corpus," White explained. "We hope that other states will follow the protocols, follow procedures, go through the training and then begin to add to this so we can begin to have a database for parents around the country to look up a Discovery textbook or look up a Pearson textbook," he said. Such a ratings system could save parents time and point out the omissions, biases, and half-truths that can easily slip into children's school books.
To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE Other Recent Articles from Breaking Christian News End of Realtor Commission Model Poses Biggest 'Jolt' in Housing in 100 Years Finnish Study: 'Woke' People More Likely to be Unhappy, Anxious and Depressed.' No Kidding. New Film 'Epidemic of Fraud' Exposes Massive COVID Corruption Shameful Senator Schumer Provides Cover for Biden's Smears of Israel REGIME MEDIA: ABC World News Tonight Advances the Bloodbath Hoax Trudeau's Online Harms Bill Threatens Canadians' Basic Rights, Pro-freedom Group Warns Fifth Circuit Court Upholds Texas Age-Verification Law Restricting Porn Site Access Sickening: Kamala Harris Visits a Planned Parenthood Facility in Pro-Abortion Tour Tennessee House Passes Bill Requiring Fetal Development Video in Public Schools Elon Musk, Matt Walsh Highlight Study Showing Transgender Surgeries Double Risk of Suicide 'Justice Denied': Judge Rules That Fani Willis Can Continue to Prosecute Donald Trump West Point Removes 'Duty, Honor, Country' from Its Mission Statement Ghana's Parliament Passes Anti-'LGBTQ' Law NHS England: Children Will No Longer Receive Puberty Blockers Unless In Clinical Trials Search the Articles Archives |
All articles on this site and emails from BCN are copyrighted property of Breaking Christian News. Permission is given to link to, or share a BCN story if proper attribution is given to both the original writer and summarizer of the story. Breaking Christian News 2005-2019. All Rights Reserved.
Breaking Christian News is a division of Elijah List Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: Articles and links, as well as the source articles linked to; do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Breaking Christian News.
Home | Store | Subscribe | Facebook | Article Archive |