In my digging I uncovered that some of the recent trigger points to really stir up this hornet's nest, so to speak. An unelected review panel working with the Texas State Board of Education proposed that Texas remove any mention of Christmas in our textbooks and replace it with Diwali. Why on earth would someone want to keep Christmas in our textbooks? What is Christmas? Has anyone ever heard of Christmas? No wait, I meant to say Diwali. Ha.
Other changes this unelected review panel tried to push through are just as equally as questionable. Remove obscure people and events like, Neil Armstrong, Daniel Boone, Christopher Columbus, and Independence Day. While the debate rages on over these changes, the real questions seem to be going unanswered. Who are the members of this unelected review panel? Who appointed them to this panel? How come this panel has not been dissolved? Who pays the members on this panel? When, where, and how often does this panel meet? Why do we have the Texas Educational Agency and the State Board of Education? What's the difference between the two agencies? Why are they using or listening to unelected review panels? Why don't any of these aforementioned groups, agencies, and panels get parental feedback, both past and present, on Texas and U.S. history? Are our teachers, not the Teacher's union, involved in this process?
I can go on and on with questions on this topic and it could just be me, but there seems to be more unanswered questions. The worst part is that nobody seems to be asking the questions, or getting any answers. Where is the local Texas media asking questions? Where are all the Parents asking questions?
This is one the most detailed stories I have found on how this controversy started, yep not a Texas media outlet.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/03/11/kelly-shackelford-texas-textbook-social-studies-standards-american-history/
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