Quote:
Originally Posted by GlenBarrington
All these posts and no one has touched what I consider the central issue of the debate. Everyone gets so bogged down in presenting their own prejudices as 'fact', when they've really just presented another form of 'truthieness'. And I find Liberal truthieness to be every bit as offensive as Conservative. Both sides tend to wrap themselves in the smug assumption of their own natural goodness and moral superiority.
Yeah, I'm talkin' about you. But back on my point
Considering how influential the State of Texas is in determining the tenor and tone of textbook publishing in the USA, is it appropriate for non-Texans (or Texans for that matter) to try to influence the direction of Texas' texbook standards? When you toss in the accellerant of incredibly lazy reporters tossing in 15 second sound bites devoid of all context, is it any wonder we have these conflagrations every 2 years?
Why does no one question WHY Texas has so much influence? Population wise, it's a large(ish) state, but certainly not the largest. I simply don't get it.
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Interesting question. I think it has to do with many southern states simply not wanting to go through the text book selection process, and deciding that they would accept wahtever Texas school board decided and buy those books.
I think many of their standards are more sub-standards. Ignoring uncomfortable facts is not a good standard.
I had to take a school year long Texas History class in high school when I lived there. Years later, I find that much of the 'facts' presented were either myths, lies, our propaganda lies to make Texas look good.
Of course, high school American history classes throughout the US do the same. Particularly our colonial past. When I took American history at university, many students were upset to learn the same class they took in High school was full of outright nonsense.