One small step for man, one giant leap for 'Merica!
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/12/19/1359641/new-orleans-texas-curriculum/
A Louisiana school district voted on Wednesday to ban from its schools any textbooks and school curricula that follows the guidelines of Texas extreme, ideological standards.
Texas approved a hard-right curriculum in 2010 that taught utterly misleading assertions as fact suggesting, for example, that Senator Joseph McCarthys anti-Communist witch hunt had been vindicated and that the Crusades didnt happen. But Orleans Parish (which covers New Orleans) schools were so worried about the spread of misinformation that it approved explicit rules in protest of Texass guidelines, requiring teachers to teach accurate historical and scientific information which wouldnt necessarily be conveyed under Texas rules:
No history textbook shall be approved which has been adjusted in accordance with the State of Texas revisionist guidelines nor shall any science textbook be approved which presents creationism or intelligent design as science or scientific theoriesNo teacher of any discipline of science shall teach any aspect of religious faith as science or in a science class, it reads. No teacher of any discipline of science shall teach creationism or intelligent design in classes designated as science classes.
Though Texas cannot legally require the teaching of creationism, Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) has said we teach both creation and evolution our public schools as a consequence of his policy choices.
Two years ago, proposed Texas textbook changes sparked outrage by rewriting history along right-wing lines and minimizing slavery. While not fully successful, the watered-down version still conveyed an entirely skewed vision of history. A recent review of the books, for example, found a consistent pattern of viciously negative portrayals of Muslims and Islam.
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