The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that there will be a comprehensive review of history texts from a certain publisher after the discovery that there were factual inaccuracies in two Virginia history texts.
The state Department of Education ordered a review of “Our Virginia: Past and Present” and “Our America: To 1865″ after the discovery of an inaccurate passage about the number of blacks who fought for the Confederacy.
A subsequent review by historians found multiple other errors, according to the Education Department.
I am sure there are inaccuracies in history texts but not the ones the State Board of Education found. Don’t take my word for it; take the word of the former Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, Don McLeroy (thanks to MSNBC and fellow blogger Tom White):
Former board chairman Don McLeroy, one of the board’s most outspoken conservatives, said the Texas history curriculum has been unfairly skewed to the left after years of Democrats controlling the board and he just wants to bring it back into balance.
Among the things MSNBC reported (and I think when they report something like this, you can believe it!) are these:
In one of the most significant changes leading up to the vote, the board attempted to water down the rationale for the separation of church and state in a high school government class, pointing out that the words were not in the Constitution and requiring that students compare and contrast the judicial language with the wording in the First Amendment.
They also rejected language to modernize the classification of historic periods to B.C.E. and C.E. from the traditional B.C. and A.D., and agreed to replace Thomas Jefferson as an example of an influential political philosopher in a world history class. They also required students to evaluate efforts by global organizations such as the United Nations to undermine U.S. sovereignty.
I certainly can agree that students should indeed study the words of the Constitution (the left might call that illegal veneration!) versus what the Supreme Court said on religion. I certainly can agree that historic periods SHOULD be called BC and AD, not BCE and CE! I finally agree that agencies like the UN could be seen as a threat to global sovereignty.
There’s more! As I wrote at the time, it’s time to liberate the kids from left-time history and social studies texts!
I was listening to the Texas Board of Education Friday at work via the technological wonder of live streaming. Like many meetings it was somewhat boring. But it was music to my ears. On Friday, May 21, 2010, the children of Texas were liberated from left-wing politically correct history and social studies texts and curriculum.
It’s time for the Virginia State Board of Education liberate the children and teens of this Commonwealth! Simply adopt the Texas curriculum (as adapted for Virginia) and the textbooks produced in result to the new curriculum.
We conservatives need to petition Governor McDonnell to encourage the SBOE to do exactly that; to appoint board members who will adopt the Texas strategy of bringing truth to history. It’s time to assert that America is exceptional, that religion was critical to its development and continuing function to this day, that the free market system built this nation, that we are a Shining City on a Hill, that our founding principles should be restored and that those principles induced those who saw the nation’s shortcomings and called us back to those principles.
We need to tell the truth about how Herbert Hoover was a great humanitarian not a heartless uncaring Chief Executive. We need to tell the truth about how Phyllis Schlafly saved the nation from the terrible social engineering of the ERA. We need to tell the truth about how President Ronald Wilson Reagan was one of those who helped defeat communism and bring about a victorious end to the Cold War. We need to tell the truth about our constitutional republic and that UN and similar agencies are a threat to sovereignty. We need to tell the truth about Austrian economics. We need to tell the truth: FDR and his New Deal did not end the Depression and that lax securities regulations was only a small part (if any) of its cause. That there are two sides to secession. We need to tell the truth about so-called climate change and the problems of evolution.
I urge the readers to contact the SBOE and Governor McDonnell – Adopt the Texas textbook standards! If you are a conservative with any sort of credentials, especially political ones, apply to serve on the SBOE.
Article written by: Elwood "Sandy" Sanders
About Elwood Sanders
Elwood "Sandy" Sanders is a Hanover attorney who is an Appellate Procedure Consultant for Lantagne Legal Printing and has written ten scholarly legal articles. Sandy was also Virginia's first Appellate Defender and also helped bring curling in VA! (None of these titles imply any endorsement of Sanders’ views)
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