The Texas Board of Education and Understanding History

The good people at TPM, led by Josh Marshall, have found some real gems of video coming out of the Texas Board of Education meeting discussing changes to be made to their social studies, history, and government curriculum. The absurdity of some of the statements made by these people are astounding:











For more, The Dallas Morning News has a good article looking at the proposed changes and the people trying to put them in place.

I understand what part of their point is - they want to include a greater representation of conservative leaders and thinkers in 20th century history. Kids should be taught about them alongside liberal and progressive politicians, and allowed to discover through research and analysis of what they are learning who has made lasting contributions to the course of American historical events. Despite what is told to you about "liberal brainwashing institutions of higher education," that's how it happens in college - you're given exposure and allowed to think for yourself.

But on the other hand, facts don't change -

+ There are times that isolationist tendencies have prevented America from preventing mass genocide.
+ We imprisoned innocent Americans for xenophobic reasons.
+ Racism is not a historical tendency of only one party.
+ Nixon lied, and so did Clinton.
+ McCarthy was a vengeful, power-mad senator who governed with fear.
+ Vietnam was the brainchild of liberal presidents.
+ Reagan wasn't a fool, and neither was George W. Bush.
+ Newt Gingrich created a powerful voting block that sustained the conservative legacy of Reagan.
+ America created Osama bin Laden.
+ 9/11 was preventable.
+ The information that led to support of the War in Iraq was a lie.
+ America tortured POWs at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram.

We have expanded the face and power of the United States by exploiting others, by abusing others, by ignoring others, by destroying others. And nothing any panel determines is ever going to change that. Changing textbooks does not change facts, but it does limit the presentation of the truth. If the Board wants to include conservative leaders and thought in textbooks, then they need to not be hypocritical and present the facts of American history to its students. And that includes both the good, the bad, and the ugly.

To remove the negative of what the United States has done is not teaching kids to hate America. On the contrary, it teaches them our flaws, and our ability to recognize and grow from them, is our greatest strength. It teaches them that even something that is less than perfect, as all things created under God are, that despite that they can still be an incredible force for good in this world. Kids need to be able to see that in the country that grow up in, and maybe they'll be able to see it in each other as well.

The story of America is not about being infallible. It's about penance, tolerance, and redemption. And that's something we should be proud of.