The nuts of Texas are upon you(r textbooks)

It was most appropriate that I had a few mixed nuts before I sat down to read a newspaper article awhile ago.

The New York Times story told of how the conservative nuts on the Texas State Board of Education finally passed a rewrite of social studies curriculum that will attempt to warp the young minds throughout the United States. You see, Texas is a big state and orders a lot of textbooks. So other states end up, by and large, buying textbooks that reflect the Texas education board’s stamp — or more appropriately, mold, — of approval.

That means Thomas Jefferson will likely be just a president rather than one whose writings provided inspirations of revolutions during the 18th and 19th centuries. It seems Tom isn’t very well liked because the majority conservative voting bloc on the board doesn’t like his words about that “separation of church and state” thing. These members, who are not historians, simply do not believe in separation of church and state. Member David Bradley, whom I am ashamed to say is from right here in Beaumont (or maybe not, there has been some dispute as to whether he actually lives in his board district), says he’ll donate $1,000 to one’s choice of charity if the idea of separation of church of state can be located in the Constitution.

Mr. Bradley must do quite well at his real estate and apartment rental business. But as a historian, he leaves a lot to be desired. A number of what we consider rights cannot be found explicitly in the Constitution but were instead borne of landmark court cases such as Marbury v. Madison and Gideon v. Wainwright.

The nut majority on the education board also have also ordered that “capitalism” be replaced in textbooks with “free enterprise system” along with other changes that say your kids, whether in Big Lake or Baltimore, learn all about the National Rifle Association. I like guns and all but c’mon, why don’t you just add the tobacco and alcohol lobbies in there too?

Some states have, with the help of technology, managed to break free of the Texas education board’s conservative headlock on education. Hopefully, more will do so. Then perhaps some of tomorrow’s minds won’t be quite as warped. Boy, are some kids going to be really surprised when — or if — they get to college.