USA TODAY: Did Moses influence the Founding Fathers? Is all international terrorism linked to Islamist fundamentalists? Was slavery not a key contributor to the Civil War?
These are questions scholars say are raised by social studies textbooks headed for Texas classrooms that are misleading, racially prejudiced and, at times, flat-out false. The elementary and intermediate geography, history and U.S. government books were written according to a set of standards created by Texas education officials four years ago — called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills — that could potentially alter traditional learning methods, they say.
And it’s not just a Texas issue. The state is so large that publishers commonly market the books made for Texas to other states, said Josh Rosenau, programs and policy director for the National Center for Science Education, a California-based non-profit group that has reviewed some of the books… (more)
