Texas Senate Votes to Remove Required Lessons on Civil Rights
By: BLaw
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Texas Senate on Friday passed legislation that would end requirements that public schools include writings on women's suffrage and the civil rights movement in social studies classes.
Among the figures whose works would be dropped: Susan B. Anthony, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King Jr., whose "I Have a Dream"speech and "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" would no longer make the curriculum cut.
The bill (S.B. 3), which was passed on a vote of 18 to 4, now is stalled because the House can't achieve a quorum while a breakaway group of Democrats is out of the state. The special session is set to end on Aug. 6.
It would remove more than two dozen teaching requirements from a new law (H.B 3979) that bars the teaching of critical race theory, an academic framework exploring racism's shaping of the country.
That law included a list of historic figures, events and documents required for inclusion in social studies classes. The Senate-passed bill would remove most mentions of people of color and women from those requirements, along with a requirement that students be taught about the history of white supremacy and "the ways in which it is morally wrong."
The measure also would bar the teaching of the 1619 Project— a New York Times initiative exploring U.S. history starting at the date enslaved people arrived in the English colonies.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who presides over the Senate, said in a statement after the vote that "Senate Bill 3 will make certain that critical race philosophies including the debunked 1619 founding myth, are removed from our school curriculums statewide."
"Parents want their students to learn how to think critically, not be indoctrinated by the ridiculous leftist narrative that America and our Constitution are rooted in racism," Patrick said.
The Texas State Capitol building in Austin. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
"What we're doing with this bill, we're saying that specific reading list doesn't belong in statute," said the bill's author, state Sen. Bryan Hughes (R).
Instead, such requirements should be in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS,standards developed by the State Board of Education, he said.
"Not just politicians but teachers and parents and administrators have a say in that process," he said.
The bill would prohibit teachers from being compelled to talk about current events or controversial issues, instructing those choosing to engage with students to discuss without "giving deference to any one perspective."
Speaking on the chamber floor, state Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D) said the legislation amounts to "tying the hands of our teachers."
"How could a teacher possibly discuss slavery, the Holocaust, or the mass shootings at the Walmart in El Paso or at the Sutherland Springs church in my district without giving deference to any one perspective?," she said.
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remember to quote any questionable replies if you want to maintain continuity. I'll be back later to take out the trash.
So they can't talk about the civil rights act?
that state has a legacy of teaching their own version of american history in the ISD's.
The sad thing is, I think the state makes a lot of textbooks for other states.
they do. two of my elementary aged kids transferred into an ISD there in the 90's. both came home despondent over the mandatory texas history homework they needed to catch up on. I read a portion of one of the books and the next day went in for a little chat with the principal. we both agreed that my kids would be exempt from those mandatory BS classes since our stay in texas was temporary and the ISD money would be better spent on a winning football season as opposed to a messy lawsuit.
Didn't Texas once try to remove Thomas Jefferson, especially with regards to the separation of church and state, from its curriculum?
Of course they can. The reading list will just be decided by the Board of Education instead of the legislature.
The board of education can be just as political.
they can. there was a recall election in 2 school districts in my state 5 or 6 years ago that the koch bros. dumped millions of dollars into and lost, both were in republican dominated districts. seems as though the ejected school board members previously had issues with some college AP history courses and the separation of church and state in the public schools. only one of all the recalled board members still reside in this state.
I read an article where the Q people are telling their followers to run for state and local offices. One of their targets was the school system.
hopefully they suffer the same recourse the thumpers on the school boards here experienced.
No civil rights, no women's suffrage, no Martin Luther King Jr, don't dare talk about how the Klan was bad...
republicans...freedom of speech! Except don't dare tell our kids about this, and this, and this....
there's a reason why the high school football coaches are some of the highest paid employees in that state.
The reason the history we teach our children must include all the hard painful truths about mankind's mistakes is so that we learn not to repeat them...
For instance...
Slavery was bad and a mistake never to repeat.
Fascism was bad and a mistake never to repeat.
Trumpism is bad and would be a mistake to repeat.
Learning this is why teaching history is so important!
Whitewashing history, sad.
I guess the excuse is that it's not mandated any longer. One has to wonder why in the hell it isn't mandated, what the fuck are they trying to prove.