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a group of texas educators have proposed to the texas state board of education that slavery should be taught as “involuntary relocation” during second grade social studies instruction, but board members have asked them to reconsider the wording, according to the state board chair.
You are reading: Texas removing slavery from history books
“The board, with unanimous consent, directed the task force to review that specific language,” said keven ellis, president of the texas state board of education, in a statement issued late thursday.
the task force of nine educators, including a professor from the university of the rio grande valley in texas, is one of many groups advising the state board of education on curriculum changes. This summer, the board will consider updates to social studies instruction a year after lawmakers passed a law to keep topics that make students “uncomfortable” out of Texas classrooms. the board will have a final vote on the curriculum in November.
the suggested change came late during their June 15 meeting which lasted over 12 hours. Board member Aicha Davis, a Democrat who represents Dallas and Fortworth, raised her concern with the board saying the wording is not a “fair representation” of the slave trade. the board, after reading the language in the suggested curriculum, sent the working draft for review.
“For K-2, carefully examine the language used to describe events, specifically the term ‘involuntary relocation,’” the state board wrote in its guidance to the task force.
“I can’t say what his intent was, but that’s not going to be acceptable,” Davis told the Texas Tribune on Thursday. In 2015, Texas attracted attention when a social studies textbook approved for use in the state called African slaves who were brought to the United States, “workers” was discovered
in this case, the group proposing these revisions to the second grade curriculum received a copy of senate bill 3, the texas law that dictates how slavery and racial issues are taught in texas. The law states that slavery cannot be taught as part of the very foundation of the United States and that slavery was nothing more than a deviation from American values.
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“They were handed Senate Bill 3, so it had to sway their minds by being a document that was handed to them right before they had to do this review,” Davis said.
Ellis’s statement noted that slavery is not currently included in social studies instruction for second graders.
“Currently, the subject of slavery is not addressed in the second grade curriculum; this work is intended to address that deficiency,” he said.
stephanie alvarez, a professor at the university of the rio grande valley of texas and a member of the group, said she did not attend the meetings when the language was drafted due to personal issues, but that the language was “extremely disturbing” . She ”she said that she would not comment further due to her role in the task force.
Part of the proposed standards for the social studies curriculum states that students should “compare trips to the United States, including voluntary Irish immigration and the involuntary relocation of Africans during colonial times.”
annette gordon-reed, a history professor at harvard university, said that using “involuntary relocation” to describe slavery threatens to blur what really happened during that time in history. there is no reason to use the proposed language, she said she.
“Young children can understand the concept of slavery and be kidnapped,” Gordon-Reed said. “The African slave trade is unlike anything that has happened or has happened, the numbers and the distance.”
If language like the one proposed by the group of texas educators is accepted and taught to children, it means the country is moving in the wrong direction, he said.
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“Tell the children the truth. they can handle it,” she said.
texas is in the process of developing a new social studies curriculum, a process that occurs roughly every decade to update what children should be learning in texas’s 8,866 public schools.
this process comes as the state’s public education system has become highly politicized, from legislators passing legislation on how race and slavery should be taught in schools to conservative political action committees spending vast amounts of money to put more conservatives on school boards who promise to get rid of curriculum and programs they see as divisive and make white kids feel bad.
government. Greg Abbott and Lt. dan patrick’s government has made parental rights a priority as both seek re-election in november. Patrick also promised to push for a “don’t say gay” bill in Texas, mirroring Florida’s conservative push to limit classroom discussions about LGBTQ people.
SB 3 last year does not mention critical race theory by name, but the bill was designed to keep teaching it out of high schools, even though it is not taught in K-12 public schools in Texas. critical race theory is a college-level field of study based on the idea that racism is embedded in legal systems and not limited to individuals. it has become a common phrase used by conservatives to include anything that is taught or discussed about race in public high schools.
The task force that proposed the language change when referring to slavery is one of several groups that submit their drafts to the state board of education, which has the final say on whether to accept or reject them.
Some drafts of the new curriculum standards are posted on the agency’s website, but they weren’t, Davis said.
“I don’t like it because it’s a personal belief. I don’t like it because it’s not rooted in truth,” she said. “We can have all the discussions we want, but we have to embrace the truth for our students.”
Join us at the texas tribune festival, taking place on September 10th. 22-24 in downtown austin, and hear from more than 300 speakers shaping the future of texas, including joe straus, jen psaki, joaquin castro, mayra flores and many others. see all the speakers announced to date and buy tickets
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