Sep
18
Written by:
William Lutz
9/18/2009 9:48 AM
This week, LSR received a phone call from Jason Moore, a parent with kids in the Ector County ISD. Moore told LSR his fifth-grader had to memorize the Declaration of Independence. One catch -- the words were altered: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ..." Of course the actual text of the document said "all men are created equal."
State Board of Education member Terri Leo (R-Spring) blasted the altered Declaration of Independence at the Sept. 17 meeting of the Committee of the Full Board. "Instead of saying 'all men are created equal,' it says 'all people are created equal,'" Leo noted. "Are we going to tell kids what the actual document says or are we going to change words in those documents to be politically correct ... How can you change a historical document and not present it to students as written? ... I think that's a factual error. That's not what the Declaration of Independence says, and I think [the publisher] should be fined." Texas law prohibits factual errors in books and creates a system of fines for publishers that have them.
Representatives of the publisher defended the book. Natasha Martin, Implementation Manager for TCI, told LSR that the original, primary source version -- as written (i.e. "all men are created equal") appears in the Appendix and the text of the book and only the cover art work contains the altered version. Martin also said that the newer version of that series -- published after the Texas adoption -- does not use that piece of artwork any more. "The parts that are really the instructional materials, the chapter the kids are reading, the appendix where we refer the kids to read the full Declaration, it is verbatim," Martin said.
When asked about the cover page with the altered Declaration, Martin said, "It's designed to be really almost be a piece of art sort of thing, not part of the curriculum. It's designed to show kids interacting with history. It's not part of the curriculum, and I'm not sure why a teacher would have their kids memorize that. It wouldn't be part of the curriculum at all." She noted that artwork is not mentioned in the teacher materials, and it was not the publisher's intent to rewrite the Declaration of Independence.
Moore is a talk show host on
KWEL Radio Midland/Odessa. (His show airs every weekday at 5 pm). Moore's son appeared on his show to discuss the issue, and that discussion can be heard
here.
LSR has obtained a photo of the page in question with the altered Declaration, and it can be viewed
here.
4 comment(s) so far...
Sounds like typical pc revision. I went to their website, and you can compare the textbook to the TEKS. The textbook does not cover several of the 5th grade TEKS.
info.teachtci.com/correlations/wCorrelations.aspx?StateID=0&ProgramID=1&ProgramChapterID=12
By Zeke on
9/18/2009 3:07 PM
|
That a textbook publisher would even allow an altered version of the Declaration of Independence to serve as "artwork" in an instructional book is a shame. So, some parts of textbooks are supposed to be taken literally, and others are supposed to serve only as "a piece of art sort of thing, not part of the curriculum"?
In that line of thinking, it would be okay to show a painting of Martha Washington crossing the Delaware, or a version of the Constitution that includes the wording "separation of church and state."
It's a degradation of our education and it pushes an agenda, plain and simple. A fine is appropriate.
By Cindy on
9/18/2009 3:07 PM
|
Idiots trying to change history! If only we could send the idiots back to the penning of the Declaration of Independence so they would understand why it is written as it was. STOP TRYING TO CHANGE WHAT IS!
By Ron on
9/20/2009 7:21 PM
|
This has been going on for decades in Texas, not only in textbooks and not only at the primary education level. I saw many examples of this when my daughter was in grade school. In addition, the PC teachers using purple instead of red for wrong answers was disgusting! I also have spelling tests she was given where incorrect spellings and mirror image letters were allowed as they had adopted leniency rules (phonetical spellings and ethnic language) to insure everyone would pass. I completed high school in 1980, but returned to college in 1994 to pursue additional education. Initially, I attended SWT (now Texas State, but changing the name won't separate this school from its party reputation) for some basic courses before transferring to Texas A&M. Now remember, that SWT is the college that is known as the 'Teachers College' and many of the graduates are headed to careers in public education. My American History professor (a 60ish woman) was completely brainwashing students with her politically correct view of our history. I continually interrupted and corrected her during lectures as I thought it was important for these 'children' to understand the truth. My grade suffered due since large portions of the tests were essay and allowed her much freedom in grading. However, I selected her again for the second semester of this course due to scheduling and a desire to keep her honest. My daughter is at A&M now and even at this traditionally conservative school she is struggling to deal with the liberal & PC bias forced on students by the many liberal professors. Our educational system is almost as bad as our Congress these days.
We just need to stay involved with our children’s education and tell them the truth!
By James Jones on
9/24/2009 11:54 AM
|