Changing history books endangers education, future

Earlier this month the Texas State Board of Education agreed to postpone debate over what information will go in high school history textbooks until this March. These changes are grabbing the attention of the local and national media because the proposed ideas would rewrite history with a huge slant to the right, leaving out topics such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, Hispanic civil-rights groups and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Instead of learning about liberal and minority-rights groups, students will learn about primarily conservative groups from the late twentieth century including the National Rifle Association and the Moral Majority. Even more ridiculous was the proposal by one of the board members to remove hip-hop from the history books. However, according to the Dallas Morning News, the proposal was shot down and hip-hop, rock 'n' roll, the Beat Generation and the Chicano Mural Movement will be allowed to remain in the history books as examples of cultural movements in the United States.

Board member Don McLeroy from College Station came up with part of the proposed ideas because he said our history was "already rife with leftist political periods and events - the populists, the progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society." I don't know about McLeroy, but the aforementioned events are all positive parts of our history, in my opinion. The progressive movement was a time where significant social changes took place and corruption was exposed by muckraking journalists who criticized the oil industry and the meat packing industry just to name a few. The progressive era also saw a few key amendments and laws come into play including women's suffrage, the income tax and the direct election of Senators. The New Deal was created by President Franklin Roosevelt in order to help Americans during the Great Depression. The New Deal dealt with banks, farmers, the railroads and labor unions and it also created the Social Security Act and the Works Progress Administration. The Great Society program created by President Johnson drew upon ideas from the New Deal and the New Frontier, which was President Kennedy's platform. The Great Society focused on education and urban problems, and its key goals were to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.

If McLeroy and other board members think women's suffrage, hispanic civil rights groups, progressives, labor unions and many other similar organizations from throughout history are not important for future generations to learn about, maybe the state of Texas needs to rethink who belongs on the State Board of Education. These periods in history have defined us as a nation, and history cannot be changed, much to the dismay of some. Although the board is scheduled to vote on the issue in March, hopefully it will not pass. If most teachers in the state got wind of the possible change, they would hopefully find a way to stop the Board of Education. In a country that prides itself as being the best and the biggest at everything in the world, we should not be taking steps back by censoring history.

Although every school in different states and cities have different curriculums, history should be one of the constants all around the country. What will others think if future Texas high school graduates move to another area of the country and do not know anything about Edward Kennedy, The New Deal or the progressives? It would just further add to the stereotype other regions of the country perceive Texans to be like: we all carry guns, are rednecks, listen to country music and drive big trucks. Although Texans have a large amount of pride for their state, it is important we do not let that get the best of us, and focus on issues that are important to our future.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas is currently ranked number three for the most teen pregnancies. According to last year's report by the College Board, Texas ranks 45th in SAT scores. These numbers are nothing to be proud of, and changing the history books in our state would be nothing to be proud of either. If Texas wants to improve its image in the aforementioned categories, education should be one of the key ways to start.