The Texas State Board of Education voted Friday to adopt new standards in text book history, economic, and social studies, curriculums. This decision will affect millions of school children across the country grades K-12 for the next decade. Texas is the second largest textbook consumer in the country, so publishing companies tend to distribute the same content to the rest of the states schools. 

Three days of emotional testimony resulted in one female board member grabbing her belongings and walking out of the meeting stating, “this is a white mans America and lets just go ahead and pretend Hispanics and blacks do not exist.”  The prominently Conservative board plans to leave out ‘so much ethnicity and race’ while reshaping lessons on the civil rights moment, US free enterprise and hundreds of other historical topics. Not only that, more Christianity, NRA and basic overall Republican figures will dominate over what is being called the current ‘liberal slant’ in school textbooks. 

Former Chairman of the board, Don McLeroy, a dentist and self-proclaimed ‘Christian Fundamentalist’ and elected board member has spear-headed this amendment from the beginning quoted as saying, “the amount of power I have is boggling.” He has recently been voted off the board but will remain as a ‘lame duck’ until the end of the year. His amendment to ensure children learn the United States was founded on religious freedom failed. 

Once again it seems the American citizens are being dragged through the separation of parties in the ‘us vs. them’ tug-o-war. Do they not realize if both sets of ideals are incorporated objectively in what children are taught—then everybody wins? I don’t believe in teaching our children a one-sided history but providing them with an educational balance so they have an opportunity to develop their own opinions; to be enlightened individuals provided with the tools to think for themselves. 

Maybe instead of spending so much time and money in changing what’s being taught in textbooks more efforts should be put toward programs to keep our kids in school? High drop out rates, drugs and teen pregnancy disables our children while enabling big-business to take advantage of their ignorance.  Safe sex and infectious disease is not being addressed properly to our youth so they run around bareback while exposing themselves to deadly viruses. Ignoring these issues are our biggest parental failures and electing extremist (of any kind) into positions of power so they have the opportunity to shape our children’s minds is a serious cause for concern. 

Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas explained why she voted against the new standards.

"We have been about conservatism versus liberalism. We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it's appropriate."

That hit the nail on the head.

I believe, we the parents must balance the scales and do our best to impartially educate our children of what they are not being taught daily in school. Sadly, so many parents don’t have the time or resources to even the platform and the result will continue to mirror the present situation we have in Congress. We’ve segregated ourselves in colors of blue and red; right-wing and liberal; while adopting the ‘with us or against us’ mentality.

Where does it end and more importantly what’s being accomplished?