Texas' State Board of Education rejected a plan to create an expert panel to identify factual errors in history and geography textbooks.
An 8-7 vote Wednesday shot down a proposal to have a panel of college professors read the books specifically searching for errors.
The vote followed a year of controversy regarding the books' interpretations of Islamic history, the Ten Commandments, the Civil War and global warming. There was also an inaccurate reference to African slaves transported to North America as "workers" brought to the board's attention by the mother of a ninth-grade Houston student, provoked a national dispute.
The issue concerns the responsibility to ensure accuracy in textbooks. Citizen panels, nominated by the board, determine only if a book fits the state's curriculum requirements. Identification of errors is in the hands of publishers and the public, and academics and citizens have noted omissions and flaws in social studies textbooks approved last year for Texas students.
TVNL Comment: This is a prime example of the planned dumbing down of America, and the calculated indoctrination of our children by the religous right. Wake up, folks.