The Texas State Board of Education was set to vote Friday on changes to social studies standards that have angered and, in some cases, baffled critics, including President George W. Bush’s first education secretary, who is protesting the politicization of the process.
Among the proposed changes: calling the USA’s slave trade the “Atlantic triangular trade” and minimizing the role of Thomas Jefferson, who espoused a strict separation of church and state.
The new standards set curriculum for millions of Texas school children and lay the groundwork for textbooks and standardized tests for a decade. But the changes could also carry outsized influence because Texas is a large state — textbooks sold to other states often carry content tailored to Texas specifications.
On Thursday, former U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, a one-time Houston superintendent, said the proposed standards are too detailed and “take away a lot of the latitude of the teachers” in designing curricula. He also worries that teachers, focused increasingly on getting their students to pass state skills tests, will be “very, very concerned about the standards” and ensure that students learn the content.
Paige testified before the board on Wednesday about the growing politicization of education. In an interview Thursday, he said he understands the point of view of several state board members, who this week said they are simply bringing balance to a set of standards that skew leftward. But Paige said, “This political swaying between left and right is retarding our ability to have an effective educational delivery system in the United States of America.”
