The highly anticipated public hearing on the standards for the Social Studies curriculum is underway at the Texas State Board of Education. Over fifty people are signed up to speak, however it is highly unlikely they will get to all of them-especially since they granted the first member of the public over 20 minutes at the podium (after the chairwoman explained each speaker would be granted three minutes). Before today, the board has heard 17 hours of testimony from 116 speakers, and has been sent over 14,000 e-mails regarding the curriculum. Today’s speakers have primarily expressed concern that their ethnic group or religion is being excluded from the Social Studies curriculum-and those religions include Christianity, Judaism, and Sikhism. One speaker pleaded that different genocides will taught to children in the future. Another begged the board to include war heroes and Congressional Medal of Honor winners in its standards. The mood inside is subdued, especially following a scolding from the chairwoman regarding audience applause.
There was some conflict inside when one of the board members seemed to take issue with a speaker’s suggestion that the United States should always be portrayed positively in lesson plans. Just now, a man suggested that if the new curriculum is going to include the historic 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama, then it should also include the 2009-10 backlash against his administration. The man was then peppered with questions by members of the school board, igniting the most passionate exchange so far. The turmoil over the Texas textbooks continues…