Kristen’s post about the banning of Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao led
me to post about book banning in the United States and its political
implications. The state of Texas purchases more textbooks than any state in the
nation. As a result, Texas, not California, sets the national trend that
determines which textbooks are distributed and which are effectively
black-listed. The Texas legislature is ultra-conservative, and I would argue,
regressive. We are indeed blessed to attend a liberal arts school like Shepherd
University with its progressive English Department. Unfortunately, liberal arts
schools are in the crosshairs of neoconservatives, who want to rewrite history
and limit or eliminate critical thinking. Their political agenda is
ideologically-based and it can only be characterized as extremely right-wing. Those
who cannot think critically are easily controlled by political ideologues, as
evidenced by the Texas legislature and its school boards.
In some cases, deists like Thomas Jefferson are being
excluded from history books! Forget about Thoreau, and Emerson: they are too
radical and too critical in their critique of America, capitalism, and market
fundamentalism. Junot Diaz? Out of the question!
Here is a link that provides some background information
about the neocon agenda for education:
For additional information on this issue, simply Google
Texas Textbook Massacre and peruse the sites.
Wow, this is truly disturbing.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but notice "changes in the Middle East curriculum." Can't wait to see what kind of monsters they make the native citizens out to be and what heroes were we in the war..... this is sarcasm if it isn't obvious.
Indeed, few people know that any of this is going on. The idea is to keep the masses ignorant. Thanks for your response, Danielle.
ReplyDeleteCharles, I love this post! Once I hit high school and realized how twisted my view of Thanksgiving was and how I grown up thinking that the colonization of America was peaceful and friendly, I started to wonder what else I had been taught. Who is to say that our history textbooks are 100% accurate? Where is the fairness in a select few making the decision of what our children should and should not learn about? Knowledge cannot be considered knowledge if it is constricted, manipulated, and unsure. This post is true, and something that should be considered.
ReplyDeleteKristi, I concur with your observations regarding U.S. history. I work at Fort Frederick State Park in Maryland, where they teach a euro-centric version of history that is based upon the British concept of white supremacy. It ignores the indigenous people and regards them as "savages." Women are hardly considered at all. I am not the most popular person on staff for continually challenging these entrenched views. But so be it. There are no uncontested historical facts; only interpretation.
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