The Texas Textbook Wars

An important read.

Mises's Jeff Riggenbach explains why the changes to textbooks in Texas will have profound impacts on the state of the nation.

Jeff explains:

The existing description stated that a student who completed that course would be able to "explain the impact of Enlightenment ideas from John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Jefferson on political revolutions from 1750 to the present." The newly amended description states that a student completing the world-history course should be able to "explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone." It may be difficult to understand at first why the members of the Texas Board of Education consider Aquinas, Calvin, and Blackstone more worthy of study than Thomas Jefferson, until one recalls that, as the New York Times's James McKinley succinctly put it, "Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term 'separation between church and state.'"

What is the significance of the board's vote in favor of this change and others like it? Why are votes about teaching standards in Texas public schools making national news, anyway? Why should this be of concern to anybody outside of Texas? Should it be of concern to anybody outside Texas?

Well, yes. Anyone at the mercy of the public school system in any state, as well as anyone who wants to understand how the public schools work and why, should find these developments of interest. You see, Texas's importance is directly connected with its size — its population. It's the 2nd most populous state, right after California. It has roughly 25 million residents. Combine that with California's 37 million and you get the following, somewhat unsettling statistic: one in every five Americans lives in either California or Texas; gather a hundred Americans into a big room and you'll find that twenty of them live in either California or Texas. Both states set statewide standards for every course offered in their public school systems, then provide copies of these standards to textbook publishers. Who can really blame the publishers if they react by, first, producing textbooks that meet the standards in Texas and California and, then, providing those same textbooks to everybody else in the country, too, whether they like it or not? Chalk it up to the unintended consequences — or were they unintended? — of turning schooling into a public utility instead of leaving it in the hands of the market, which is to say, in the hands of individuals.

Revisionist history is a favorite past time of government - on the right or the left.

The State always adjusts the history it teaches in its publik indoctrination centers to paint itself in the most favorable light.

Federal Reserve? - where would we be today without it?!

Socialist Security? - you don't want grandma to starve do you?!

The Civil War - Lincoln had to free the slaves?! You don't hate blacks do you?!

The New Deal - FDR SAVED US FROM EPIC DESTRUCTION!


Of course, all of those are blatant revisionist takes on American history.

The great depression RESULTED from the federal reserve contracting the money supply. The social security system is insolvent, operated as a ponzi scheme, has tens of trillions in unfunded liabilities, and keeps all the loot if someone dies early. The civil war never needed to be fought; slavery would have ended on its own peacefully after the cotton gin made it obsolete. Economists at UCLA and elsewhere have estimated the New Deal prolonged the depression by a decade.

Lies lies lies and more lies.

One more reason all schools should be privatized.