The Texification of American Education

[Dreadsox]

Many people do not realize that our largest states population wize, define for the country what gets put into our nations textbooks. Here is an example of what I call the "TEXIFICATION" of our nations educational system.

[Q]The board of education approved health textbooks for Texas high school and middle school students after publishers changed the wording in their books to reflect marriage as being between a man and a woman.[/Q]

[Q]One publisher changed the textbooks to include a definition of marriage as a "lifelong union between a husband and a wife." The other publisher changed wording throughout books from phrases like "when two people marry" and "partners" to "when a man and a woman marry" and "husbands and wives."[/Q]

[Q]The board's decision could affect dozens of states because books sold in Texas, the nation's second-largest textbook buyer, often are marketed elsewhere.
[/Q]


This is just one example of the power of the larger states. It works the same as if the California Board of Education wants or decides. The economics the situation is such that these two school boards pretty much have control over the texbook companies. Unfortunately the cultural war is taking place inside of our classrooms, and local school boards have very little to say about what actually gets put into the classrooms.

http://www.panews.com/articles/2004/11/06/news/03news.txt

 

[Dreadsox]

[Q]DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas education officials on Friday approved health textbooks for high school students that extol the virtues of sexual abstinence but only make passing mention of contraceptives, which critics say violates state regulations and endangers the health of teens.

The battle in Texas has national implications because the state is the second-biggest market for textbooks in the United States. Books approved by the state's school board are typically marketed nationally.

15-member Texas Board of Education approved four books, all of which promote a birth control program based on abstinence. Three make no mention of contraceptives, while one makes passing references to condoms. [/Q]

This to me is a crime. I believe that this represents someone placing their moral agenda ahead of the interests of public health and saftey.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=6733240

 

[Pearl]

And doesn't Texas have the highest STD and teen pregnancy rate?

Unbelievable

 

[pianorocker]

That is ridiculous.

 

[adam's_mistress]

With a son in public grade school, I have to say this prospect is rather frightening.

If this becomes the trend, parents absolutely, positively *must* be more forthcoming with their kids - parents should be doing this all along regardless. Kids need the honesty and parental wisdom that no textbook can convey.

 

[U2democrat]

I saw that story on I think it was NBC nightly news. I was disgusted. Shouldn't we be teaching tolerance? Holy f***.

 

[speedracer]

I saw that story on I think it was NBC nightly news. I was disgusted. Shouldn't we be teaching tolerance? Holy f***.

Ignorance is not bliss.

We should not try to prevent our children from finding out about contraceptives.

We also should not try to pretend that there aren't serious emotional and personal consequences of sexual activity, as some schools (at least mine) do.

 

[Jamila]

Texas is following the Bush administration's agenda on sex education.

I would think that this would make Bush supporters happy.

It is exactly this type of backward-thinking, Bible-thumping ideology that just got Bush re-elected.

So, maybe Bush shouldn't have been re-elected for the good of our country?

 

[A_Wanderer]

I think that there are many logical, independant thinking and level headed Bush supporters who would not appreciate being lumped into the same category as the evangelicals. Firstly the evangelical vote didn't change drastically since 2000 by proportion and secondly there are a lot of secular voters out there that wieghed up their individual situation and made a choice to vote that particular way - that doesn't make them wrong or ignorant it makes them individuals excercising their right to vote.

One element of liberal democracies is free expression and discussion of ideas, not labelling those who disagree with you un-American or insisting that free speech is so great but only when you agree with it. Free speech is great and I appreciate everybody who posts here (bar the odd troll) I would be a hypocrite if I didn't.

A brilliant correction to this meme that explains the result as being a right wing Evangelical Amerikkka may be found in this David Brooks collumn here

Every election year, we in the commentariat come up with a story line to explain the result, and the story line has to have two features. First, it has to be completely wrong. Second, it has to reassure liberals that they are morally superior to the people who just defeated them

 

[Dreadsox]

I really did not want to turn this into a Bush hating thread, we have enough of those

I think it is silly to think that people have to agree with a candidate 100% of the time

I brought up this issue, because ultimately, I believe it will lead to the spread of AIDS and other diseases if we do not educate the youth of this country, how to protect themselves. The concept of abstinance has been around for thousands of years, for some it worked and for others is did not.


Yet again we have a poster throwing in political jabs at people, when there is a serious issue at hand.


Why can't all sides be presented in an issue as serious as this? Why can't contraceptives be discussed and absitinance too? Don't both sides deserve to be heard?

 

[verte76]

I think this is terrible. The schools should promote tolerance of diversity, not some little group's definition of morality. What on earth is going on here?

 

[Scarletwine]

I think this has been coming for quite some time.
When I took sex-ed they were very honest and went over every type of contraception in much detail and pros & cons of each type, STD's and the biological details.

Now it is very different, less detail more moral interference with basic biology. It's a damn shame and the teen pregnancy rate is going up here as a result.

 

[Pearl]

originally posted by Scarletwine
I think this has been coming for quite some time.
When I took sex-ed they were very honest and went over every type of contraception in much detail and pros & cons of each type, STD's and the biological details.

That's similar to what I had. We were even taught the pros and cons of abstinence and sex in a long-term relationship. Even though the class leaned towards abstinence, the choice was up to us. Here, the educators are making decisions for the students.

 

[GibsonGirl]

This is absolutely disgusting.

 

[anitram]

Grim. These people are truly the ostriches that bury their heads in the sand.

Dread is right, this is not a morality issue, it is a public health and safety issue. They are being repugnantly irresponsible.

I went to a Catholic high school, where in 9th grade, we had sex education (part of our phys ed class). The teacher brought condoms in, IUDs, pills, etc. We had a test on it. If a Catholic school can be adequately responsible to do this, then what the hell is the problem in public schools?

Shameful.

 

[U2democrat]

I'm in Environmental Science and we watched a video on human population growth, and the regions where sex-ed was purely about abstinence had a sky rocketing birth rate, but the regions where people were also educated about contraceptives had a better time controlling the population. People need to be more realistic and understand that in no way will people just NOT have sex. It just ain't gonna happen, and it hasn't since the beginning of human life.

 

[pianorocker]

I went to a Catholic high school, where in 9th grade, we had sex education (part of our phys ed class). The teacher brought condoms in, IUDs, pills, etc. We had a test on it. If a Catholic school can be adequately responsible to do this, then what the hell is the problem in public schools?

Shameful.

Wow, must have been a progressive high school. I went to a Catholic high school, and I remember debating in 12th grade religion class the merits of Bush's abstinence policies, and the teacher, b/c "it was his job," kept supporting the fact that abstinence was so much better, and ignoring the fact that condoms are a decent safety net.

 

[anitram]

I went to school in Canada - totally different ballgame.

 

[namkcuR]

States have too much power in this country, and this ignorant behavior is proof of it. If they can't handle it, they shouldn't have it. There needs to be more federal government standards for education among other issues.

 

[saltwaterkiss26]

For the first time I think I appreciate ninth grade health in a suburbian Massachusetts public school.

 

[pax]

I agree with the many eminently sensible folks here who have said that contraception and prevention ought to be taught side-by-side with abstinence.