Texas Senate Votes to Remove Required Lessons on Civil Rights
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.
Let's be HONEST about this bill.
It simply does NOT prohibit teaching any of the things mentioned, it merely removes the requirement to do so.
I have seeded it here so everyone may comment on it without censorship.
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Not content with not teaching what really has happened in our country's history...
the left is now seeking to indoctrinate our kids all kinds of racist lies and partisan BS
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The civil rights movement is a racist lie and partisan bs?
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Did I say that? I'm not referring to the actual history, but the left's manipulated and dishonest version of it.
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[In general, bringing a beef from another nation/article is a bad idea.]
[Repeating a deleted comment is worse, no matter the innocence or guilt of said statement.]
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I did not ask for your help nor claim anything about you.
Whoa, it was just a simple statement. Sheesh!
So was mine, so no need for indignation
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That’s what CRT and 1619 is. The left’s manipulated and and dishonest version of it.
Sounds like a great idea to me. More local control. No coerced things that have to be taught from a preconceived point of view. The only thing the state should mandate is that no CRT and no 1619 project be taught in any Texas public school K-12
Because god forbid students have to be taught about some teeny tiny historical blips like the civil rights movement. Not like it was an important moment in American history or anything. Next on the chopping block; that small misunderstanding known as slavery.
Have they taken off Darwin and evolution yet? If not, they are probably high on the list.
I sure wish folks could all learn the differences between mandating something and forbidding something.
based on the above responses, I don't have high hopes.
Yeah, I am sure that soon that won’t be required teaching any longer. And I am sure the existence of native Americans won’t be far behind.
Reading something no one wrote as usual. Uh oh, I am sure that got me reported.
You are all acting as if Texas forbid teaching that stuff.
It didn't.
Please keep your remarks about reporting to yourself: they are unwanted and unnecessary on this seed.
No one is acting that way.
[Deleted,] not my fault you like to try to dish it out but go whining as soon as you have to take it.
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Not necessary.
I don't need to publish in a protected group with a mod like you to "protect" me from ideas.
ideas that are bullshit still end up being bullshit at the end of the day.
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More hyperbole. It is almost as if the left is trying to make sure no original thought in schools is had outside of the ones that they want placed there. Again; Darwin's Theory of Evolution is taught in Biology; unless things have changer since I took the class in Jr High and High School.
Tennessee tried something like that once. Remember the Scopes Monkey Trial?
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In 2009, the Texas Board of Education approved new science standards that removed a clause requiring teachers to address the “strengths and weakness” of scientific theories like evolution and added language instructing teachers to examine “all side of scientific evidence.”
Many schools have decided that "creationism" is an included scientific theory.
Like I said before, Texas just keeps doubling down on the stupid. There's no better example than when someone tries to pass off creationism BS as science.
Or the young Earth claim that Earth is only 6,000 years old.
That generally coincides with creationism. Either way, it flies in the face of actual science and has zero supporting evidence. The only idea that might be dumber is flat earth. But the 2 are close.
Mostly true, but not all creationism arguments include a young Earth.
True. But all creationism arguments or claims are illogical and unsubstantiated at their core.
count on them to forget to mention how texas was the last state to comply with freeing slaves and what juneteenth was all about.
Like I said, I don't have high hopes for folks learning the differences between mandates and forbidding something.
the efforts of some texas legislators to continuously prove how stupid they are seems redundant.
Pshhh, why would that little detail be required teaching? If it’s inconvenient to the overall narrative that America and Americans are infallible it isn’t required.
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Removed for context
The articles on the Texas Democrats who fled the state like pussies is another topic which has been discussed elsewhere.
Removed for context
Perhaps had YOU ever studied Texas history (or read one of those Texas books you claimed your kids had) maybe you would know why that was.
I read enough of 1 texas history book to know it was white washed revisionist bullshit.
Unbelievable.
[Already declared off topic]
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When are they going to loosen those pesky math teaching requirements so that math will finally show that Joe Biden lost the election?
Don't know, best ask someone who believes Biden lost.
That ain't me.
Looks like Texas is doubling down on stupid.
Maybe they should adopt the clinically insane theory that many progressive liberals espouse-- that math is racist!
Looks like some don't understand the bill.
Whom might that be? I understand the bill just fine. And it's a stupid bill!
Read the comments, including your own and figure it out
I have and my statement stands!
Yes, your comment is still there.
And it still stands!
Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Mark Twain
Yes, I acknowledged that it is still there.
Do you have another point to make, or willing to concede I have previously stated it was still there?
I thought lefties think math is somehow racist
I thought
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What's yours?
You STILL can't figure it out on your own???
maybe some progressive liberals can explain it to you.
You can't explain your own point? The sure sign of not actually having one.
If you don't understand it now, mere explanation on my part will never ever suffice either.
Wow, you just said it, historical. Does the bill state those events are forbidden from being taught in history class? That is where the majority of students learn about them. I received a large dose in high school; and an obscene dose in college since I was a history minor. Luckily I skated past it in sociology because I took Tribal Studies and the effects of the modern world on them. Never regretted that decision for a minute.
Next on the overly dramatic response cycle. Slavery is a part of US History as well. Until I see a bill removing it. If Republicans try to do that then they will be as bad as Democrats and their rewriting of history.
No, and it’s a good thing I never claimed it did isnt it?
Will they be teaching THAT in Texas public schools ?
Why should they?
At this point, what's the point?
Do the schools in Texas teach that Texas was founded on "freedom" ? I suppose they do, but maybe they dont mention 1836 at all , lol.
That’s potentially a legitimate point of view if you hold strict, conservative ideas of limited government. Personally, though, I see no reason why the legislature shouldn’t make laws mandating that certain topics be taught in school. It doesn’t make the Board of Education obsolete. Legislators represent the people, and if the people want something taught in the schools, that’s a way to get it done. Lots of states operate that way. In fact, government operates that way at every level on pretty much any topic.
And anyway, even if the author thinks his bill is only about limiting the reach of the legislature, his colleagues clearly don’t think that’s what this is about.
Clearly, the Lt. Gov. is more interested in imposing his idea of appropriate curricula on the schools. His stated hope is that the bill will free the Board to prohibit specific curricula. It’s hard to imagine Sen. Hughes is ignorant of that agenda.
Thread @1.1 was cleaned up for meta, and 1.2 was deleted entirely, as it was totally comprised of meta.