Public Schools as Re-Education Camps: Texas State Board of Indoctrination
The Texas State Board of Education has adopted textbook standards that deny the separation of church and state, seek to rehabilitate Joseph McCarthy, raise Phyllis Schlafly to new levels of historical importance, and exalt the extremist economic philosophy of Friedrich von Hayek. It’s indoctrination, and it smacks of the old Vietnamese ideological re-education camps.
Since Schlafly’s son, Andrew, is also re-writing the Bible, replacing Jesus’ teachings with those of Milton Friedman, we shouldn’t be surprised if Schlafly is soon compared to Mother Mary and Andrew to you-know-who. Texas students can learn about the holy mother and son in both history and public school Christian Bible classes.
The conservatives on the SBOE seek to use the public schools to advance their peculiar, dangerous and anti-democratic views. Left unchecked, they will poison the minds of Texas schoolchildren. I cannot overstate my contempt for their disregard of history and science. They should be tossed from office if not run out of town on rails, after being tarred and feathered. Should we take a more moderate approach to our criticism of their authoritarian actions? No. Okay, I don’t mean literal tar and feathers. I’m serious about the rail.
“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”
Well, how about the first words of the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
I want my thousand dollars. I’m going to donate it to the Texas Freedom Network who stands up to the SBOE re-education camp effort like the courageous Chinese dissidents who stood up to their totalitarian leaders in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
I know the David Bradleys of the world claim that the First Amendment is intended to protect religion from government, and not our democratic government from the doctrinaire teachings of any particular religion. That’s backwards, of course. The SBOE’s actions prove the wisdom of the Founders. Left to their own devices, religious zealots will seek to impose their views on the rest of us. The First Amendment is intended to prohibit exactly that.
There will be some of you out there who say the comparison to Vietnamese re-education camps is a stretch. It is not. Morally, the actions of the SBOE are equivalent, even if they have yet to recommend the whipping or torture of students who refused to be brainwashed. The SBOE is using government to impose ideologically extreme views on vulnerable schoolchildren, to rewrite history and to make a mockery of science.Voters are turning on the SBOE, though the turning is too slow. In the recent primary elections, conservative Don McLeroy was beaten. So was Tinsy Miller of Dallas. Democrat Rick Agosto, who often voted with the right-wing block on the board, will be replaced by a moderate.
Abby Rapaport of the Texas Tribune writes:
The SBOE that takes office next year will be very different from the current panel. The social conservatives lost both their public face in McLeroy and their swing vote in Agosto. Conservative bloc member Cynthia Dunbar did not seek re-election, and the Republican primary in her district will go to a run-off between her preferred successor, Bryan Russell, and Marsha Farney, who ended the first round in a virtual tie.
This is good news, but unless these new guidelines are overturned, a lot of Texas kids are going to get twisted versions of history and science. So will kids elsewhere as publishers try to save money by forcing these nutty books on other states.
Thanks,Glenn,for expressing my outrage. I’m not a “no tax” zealot, but this makes me not want to pay my property taxes.
You’re up too late! Thanks for stopping by. We’ll pay our taxes, and run the rascals off as well.
I think this is a bit of a false choice. The bar against establishment is for protecting both democracy and belief. Government (or politicians) should be denied the opportunity to use religion for political purposes – including designated some people second class persons on the basis of their religious beliefs. Religion is supposed to be a matter of faith – not coercion. Therefore, religious persons should be denied the opportunity to use government to impose their views.
Of course, the idea that the Constitution creates some religious test, or rests on religious authority, or allows people to use government to impose religious orthodoxy is unmitigated nonsense. In addition to the First Amendment, the Test Oath clause, the Preamble, and Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment all make that clear.
You are right to confront such claims with a quote. In the words of Frank the Tank – this is how you do it, this is how you debate. The words of the Constitution will not settle all disputes, but they do show how many particular claims are untenable.
You are right about the protection of belief. Thanks for clarifying that, David.
The Texas SBOE certainly can be proud of their results. Where is Texas ranked now in educating it’s young people? Are we 50th or have we shot up to 49th yet?
Terrific post, Glenn. I’ve been following this story for a while. What makes it all-the-more troubling is that school textbooks are not exactly beacons of truth as they stand. They already offer bowdlerized versions of US and World history. Those of us who care about education rely on the increasingly underpaid and vilified public school teachers to supplement the textbooks. Of course, if teachers offer counter examples, they run the risk of incurring the wrath of the parents and school boards. My heroes are the Dover, PA, teachers who stood up to the school board’s requirement that they teach intelligent design.
The heroes of Dover! We need a lot more like them, don’t we?
Very good post, Glenn, and the comments are good as well. “Intelligent design” is certainly a misnomer, isn’t it? I would like to know what qualifications Andrew Schlafly has to rewrite the Bible. Personally, I think churches should pay taxes the same as other businesses.
A handful of wingnut Xtians have just compromised the texts of schools across the country. WTF?