Jefferson dropped from TX textbooks

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netrox

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This is truly disgusting and I hope that the board gets sued in court. Thomas Jefferson was one of most influential thinkers of ALL times and have shaped America to be the way it is now. He is exactly why we have religious freedom.

And the Education Board doesn't like it.. it wants to drop Jefferson in favor of a religious figure:

"The new standard, passed at the meeting in a 10-5 vote, now reads, "Explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone."

By dropping mention of revolution, and substituting figures such as Aquinas and Calvin for Jefferson, Texas Freedom Network argues, the board had chosen to embrace religious teachings over those of Jefferson, the man who coined the phrase "separation between church and state."

According to USA Today, the board also voted to strike the word "democratic" from references to the U.S. form of government, replacing it with the term "constitutional republic." Texas textbooks will contain references to "laws of nature and nature's God" in passages that discuss major political ideas.

The board decided to use the words "free enterprise" when describing the U.S. economic system rather than words such as "capitalism," "capitalist" and "free market," which it deemed to have a negative connotation.

Texas Removes Thomas Jefferson From Teaching Standard - AOL News
 
What the hell?

No wonder kids leave school completely unprepared.:roll:
 
I think this is going to fall along the same lines as the ESPN fishing story......meaning it's not actually going to happen. I didn't look at the link.....just going by the local news coverage. Every religion,race and group is trying to get adequate mention in the new curriculum. Teachers are claiming there are not enough days to teach everything they are asking to be taught.......It's a giant mess but it will get worked out. TJ will get his mention.

Sorry if that is flippant but the issue is quite large and has been brewing for a year. Saying TJ is replaced by a religious figure grossly oversimplifies the issue. An article about this is like an article about one play in a football game.
 
Also important to note this is for the World History Curriculum.....Not the US History Curriculum.

It's a shame, the board spends so much time and money debating why Davy Crockett gets 130 words but Cesar Chavez only gets 110, that they can't afford books for the students to read about either.
 
TXgolfer said:
Also important to note this is for the World History Curriculum.....Not the US History Curriculum.

It's a shame, the board spends so much time and money debating why Davy Crockett gets 130 words but Cesar Chavez only gets 110, that they can't afford books for the students to read about either.
Click to expand...

Pretty soon they'll add internet links (URL) just to save words and spaces. They'll probably link it to a Wikipedia site instead.
 
During the middle school, I have never been taught about Thomas Jefferson but Lewis & Clark and Louisana Purchase during the Jefferson's era....and that was in like 2002. Nothing news. Yes, I know who was Thomas Jefferson, anyway.
 
Of course everyone knows who Thomas Jefferson was.....he was married weezy and lived next to Archie Bunker until they moved on u........excuse me a moment :gossip: what? :gossip: George?.........

Nevermind :Oops:
 
TXgolfer said:
Of course everyone knows who Thomas Jefferson was.....he was married weezy and lived next to Archie Bunker until they moved on u........excuse me a moment :gossip: what? :gossip: George?.........

Nevermind :Oops:
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OMGs....TY I needed the laugh right now. :laugh2:
 
TXgolfer said:
Of course everyone knows who Thomas Jefferson was.....he was married weezy and lived next to Archie Bunker until they moved on u........excuse me a moment :gossip: what? :gossip: George?.........

Nevermind :Oops:
Click to expand...

:rofl2:

"movin' on up...to the top!"
 
TXgolfer said:
Of course everyone knows who Thomas Jefferson was.....he was married weezy and lived next to Archie Bunker until they moved on u........excuse me a moment :gossip: what? :gossip: George?.........

Nevermind :Oops:
Click to expand...

:lol:
 
Aquinas certainly is a good figure to study, regardless of his religious significance, especially when it comes to philosophy. John Calvin on the other hand, does not have much influence outside of religious thought, particularly Christianity.

The term "Constitutional Republic" is actually more accurate than "democratic," HOWEVER, it's obvious they just want to change it because of the phonetic association to democrats and liberals and all that evil in the world. LOL.

Taking TJ out of the history books is paramount to treason. If this passes (and it won't, as TXgolfer points out wisely), some people need to be hung (by their pants in the town square and pelted with tomatoes, of course).
 
Beowulf said:
"Widely regarded as one of the most important of all the founding fathers of the United States, Thomas Jefferson received a demotions of sorts Friday thanks to the Texas Board of Education..."

Texas Removes Thomas Jefferson From Teaching Standard - AOL News

Texas Education Board Approves Conservative Curriculum Changes By Far-Right


Texas has decided that Thomas Jefferson is no longer considered a great political thinker? That's pretty sad. :(
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Agreed. It's sad.

I don't think Virginia would remove Thomas Jefferson from our text books. He's too important to our country to be left out of our history books.


I'm surprised the far right would want him replaced with Calvin.. Calvin is important to religious history but not as instrumental to the development of our country.
 
I just bought a used biology book titled "Biology: The Dynamics of Life - Texas Edition". Now I wonder what Texas are up to.....
 
i thought i posted in here? Anyway, he shouldn't be left out as TJ is instrumental to this country's history. Calvin is important for religious history but he does not matter much for this country's history.

I'm surprised at the hard right.
 
Mod note:

Threads has been merged.
 
Beowulf said:
"Widely regarded as one of the most important of all the founding fathers of the United States, Thomas Jefferson received a demotions of sorts Friday thanks to the Texas Board of Education..."

Texas Removes Thomas Jefferson From Teaching Standard - AOL News

Texas Education Board Approves Conservative Curriculum Changes By Far-Right


Texas has decided that Thomas Jefferson is no longer considered a great political thinker? That's pretty sad. :(
Click to expand...

I think many people think our founders are not considered a great political thinker. In Fact, they think the constitution is outdated.

Now Thomas Jefferson is a great political thinker. I don't know why they don't think so. If you talking about the letter sent to a pastor who was concern about the gov't interfering church affair (hence where separation the state from the church)... some people feel that is just a letter and not really something important other than assurance for that pastor. It's been rumored that Jefferson even got his idea as a gov't from a baptist church because how they ran their church.
 
netrox said:
This is truly disgusting and I hope that the board gets sued in court. Thomas Jefferson was one of most influential thinkers of ALL times and have shaped America to be the way it is now. He is exactly why we have religious freedom.

And the Education Board doesn't like it.. it wants to drop Jefferson in favor of a religious figure:

"The new standard, passed at the meeting in a 10-5 vote, now reads, "Explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone."

By dropping mention of revolution, and substituting figures such as Aquinas and Calvin for Jefferson, Texas Freedom Network argues, the board had chosen to embrace religious teachings over those of Jefferson, the man who coined the phrase "separation between church and state."

According to USA Today, the board also voted to strike the word "democratic" from references to the U.S. form of government, replacing it with the term "constitutional republic." Texas textbooks will contain references to "laws of nature and nature's God" in passages that discuss major political ideas.

The board decided to use the words "free enterprise" when describing the U.S. economic system rather than words such as "capitalism," "capitalist" and "free market," which it deemed to have a negative connotation.

Texas Removes Thomas Jefferson From Teaching Standard - AOL News
Click to expand...

"Explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone." (Taken from above)

These people were the "dissenters" of their time, during the "Enlightenment" period which began in England and quickly spread to France. These writers were writing about political, economic, and religious reform in their respective countries, mostly France, which preceded the French Revolution.

With the way our government is going today - we are slowly losing our right to free speech. Our "zero tolerance" school policies want everyone to line up as one with little room for individuality. Removing the works of these "dissenters" might keep the students from getting inspired to come up with their own ideas, and to possibly stand-up to bigger, repressive systems.

I am saddened to hear that Texas is removing the works of these authors from the textbooks of students.
 
The next step is dropping James Madison, the father of Constitution, from the history because he refused to put "God" in the Constitution.
 
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