Should history be revised every generation?
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Calif. bill would block Texas textbook changes
- Thread starter Crabtownboy
- Start date
Your question in regards to the article is silly.
Updating a particular text book is not "revising history".
A particular text book on history merely reflects the work, values and opinions of a particular author. Why is that particular text book historically correct and any other less correct?
Are you advocating that no new books be written on a particular historical event because the current text got everything exactly correct?
Updating a particular text book is not "revising history".
A particular text book on history merely reflects the work, values and opinions of a particular author. Why is that particular text book historically correct and any other less correct?
Are you advocating that no new books be written on a particular historical event because the current text got everything exactly correct?
Tag, apparently you did not read carefully. Revise history because a person does not like a the stand of a historical person like Jefferson ... and for Baptist to support this. After all it was Baptists and especially Virginia Baptists who fought so hard for the clause containing the separation of church and state to be included. Do you really want the government involved in religious institutions?
I have nothing against new books being written. But I do not believe history should be changed simply because some people do not like what happened, or want it changed simply to more align with their theology or philosophy and eliminate truth.
Why not eliminate all references to the Vietnam War? After all it was a very unpopular war.
Why not eliminate all references to the Trail of Tears? After all that was a travesty against the one tribe who had done the most to become 'white' and live with their neighbors.
Why not eliminate all references to the internment of the Japanese in WW II? After all that was a total violation of the civil and constitutional rights of legal citizens of the country.
Adding or subtracting emphasis on a particular historical fact does not "change history". A history text is always based on the particular bias of the author to one degree or another.
And how exactly does changing the emphasis on one particular historical character in a text book "involve government in religious institutions"?
Changing the emphasis of a particular person or event in a particular historical textbook is not changing history.
It is changing the emphasis that the original author or publisher placed on it.
How do you know that the original writer got the exact correct emphasis on the subject matter in question?
Have you read the original text book and have you read the proposed revisions?
What difference does it make to California what textbooks are used in Texas?
The publishers make available to school districts in all states text books Texas has approved.
Well I hate to break it to you but the history textbooks already contain a number of errors. I picked up a world history textbook a month or so ago and noticed numerous errors. The fact is much history has been subject to error. I'm not agreeing nor disagreeing with the Texas schoolboard or California, just stating obvious facts.
Yes, however no one is forcing California to purchase any particular text book.
Also, considering the level of technology, I am surprised that school systems are not reviewing text books before purchasing and then asking for changes before purchasing them.
In a digital age it should be a simple matter to make agreed upon changes to a text book before shipping to a particular market.
That there would only be one issue of a particular school text book does not sound like a high level of customer service.
CA is putting publishers on notice they will not allow such censorship.
My guess is that all systems have some type of review. That is not the point. The Texas school board had in effect eliminated many points of view automatically regardless of what the local school systems might desire.
I am not sure how many states have state boards as powerful as the one in Texas.
Costly approach. How many editors, proof readers, and other editorial staff would be required to ensure that, at its worst, 50 different sets of guidelines were being followed .... 50 states you know. Could be worse if local systems can dictate what they will not allow in a textbook.
I doubt this is true ... unless you added a huge number of people to the customer service dept. to replies to many, many people requesting changes and demanding cuts in some areas.
BY the way good for the Texas school board for not carrying on the liberal revisionism and political correctness.
Censorship??? Get real.
If California is forcing a publisher to include or not include material in text books used in Texas with the force of the Government then they are the censors.
No one is telling California what to include or not include in the text books that they choose to use.
The Texas school board has merely expressed their wishes to the publisher of the books that they choose to purchase.
They are not forcing anyone else to purchase those books.
For that matter they are not forcing the publishers to change the contents either - the publisher could make the choice not to make the change and loose the sale to another company.
That is free enterprise.
It depends on how other school systems buy their books and how many, I suppose.
Costly for a school system to read the books before they buy them for the entire district?
That would seem to be a minimum in selecting text books for a school - have someone read it first.
Costly to print different versions?
IMO that would be the type of customer service that would increase market share.
It sounds like you have never run a business - or you would know better.
Funny how Crabby never seems to notice revisionist history on the left, isn't it?
Intellectual dishonesty, being displayed once again.
Funny how obvious, simple solutions seem to elude CTB on this issue.
He must be an educational administrator. Or wish he were one.
Intellectual dishonesty, being displayed once again.
Funny how obvious, simple solutions seem to elude CTB on this issue.
He must be an educational administrator. Or wish he were one.
The process has become a joke in Texas. The board is controlled by a group of right wing political activists. They are being "helped" by David Barton of Wallbuilders. It just isn't a matter of removing a liberal bias but installing a conservative bias. Neither is good, no one is helped. If you want a particular bent to your child's schooling, go homeschool, lets not muddy the already troubled waters of public education with an agenda, left or right.
Texas is so important because if the sheer number of books they buy. The publishers aren't paying attention to what Wyoming or north Dakota want.
Texas is so important because if the sheer number of books they buy. The publishers aren't paying attention to what Wyoming or north Dakota want.
Then those smaller States should go to smaller publishers who will be responsive to what they want.
No market is so small that even the big publishers can afford to write them off - especially in the digital age that makes specializing published materials for different markets so easy.
I'm never sure how to respond to the "textbook wars" and related questions. As a community college history lecturer, I am aware that there are some really good history textbooks out there. I use "Out of Many" but I also really like "Unto A Good Land" and "Making America". Do I agree with everything in every textbook? No. However they generally do a good job summarizing the important material for students.
As for high school books, sometimes I think history/social studies has already lost the battle in the public schools. Science, math, end of grade/course testing, and political correctness has taken over. And it is not just on the liberal side of the coin (though they are the major problem). There are conservatives who want to pick and choose the history they hear about as well. History is not meant to make us feel good or patriotic (though it can). History tells us where we have been and allows us to learn from our successes and mistakes.
As for high school books, sometimes I think history/social studies has already lost the battle in the public schools. Science, math, end of grade/course testing, and political correctness has taken over. And it is not just on the liberal side of the coin (though they are the major problem). There are conservatives who want to pick and choose the history they hear about as well. History is not meant to make us feel good or patriotic (though it can). History tells us where we have been and allows us to learn from our successes and mistakes.