A Textbook Education: Texas and Conservative Revisionist History
Posted: March 16, 2010 by Sidney Carton in Current Events, History, Politics
Tags: Civil War, education, History, Politics, Texas, Thomas Jefferson
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The Texas state school board has decided in a party line vote to change their U.S. history curriculum in the coming academic year. In and of itself, this is no great thing, school boards do this with a degree of regularity, as newer textbooks become available, or newer technologies allow for a different student experience. Yet what makes this vote by the Texan authorities so noteworthy is the way in which the American history curriculum will be altered, the emphasis of the courses are to be fundamentally shifted toward a form of revisionist history popular on the right.
This new history will focus heavily on the conservative revolution of the 1980′s-90′s, will offer Confederate General Stonewall Jackson as a paragon of leadership, and will give equal time to a statement by Confederate President Jefferson Davis when a speech by Abraham Lincoln is discussed. Far more disturbing, in my own humble opinion, has been the decision to downgrade the influence of Thomas Jefferson among the founding fathers, and instead discuss how they were influenced by medieval thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas, while consistently emphasizing the religious nature of the founders project.
Now speaking as a historian-in-training myself, I can frankly admit that objectivity in the writing of history is an ideal to aspire to, and not necessarily a goal to be achieved. Every work has a small degree of bias of one form or another worked into it. And yes, academia is well-known for its supposed left-wing bias, (to hear people talk youd think we were all taught out of Maos Little Red Book for heavens sakes) but is writing a history that runs to the opposite end of the ideological spectrum really a solution? Or is it merely an attempt to indoctrinate ones pupils into one partisan system in order to prevent the possibility of their indoctrination into another?
But to discuss such things on their merits, I really have to wonder about the reasoning inherent here. Are Texans really going to privilege the works of Conservative Activist Phyllis Schafly over those of Thomas Jefferson? Im sure Mrs. Schafly has written some influential tracts in her day, but Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, and was highly influential in the writing of the Constitution, are these things important to the Texas State School Board? Or in their rush to cram their students full of partisan pap, have they overlooked the fact that the whole point of teaching American students American history is to give them an appreciation for the nation in which they live?
Now, I find the emphasis on the Confederacy perversely interesting. Yes, Texas joined the Confederate States of America in 1861, and Governor Perry has made some idiotic statements about secession in the past, so one begins to wonder whether or not the Texans would like to tell us something here? Whatever the reason, I really dont have a problem with the use of Stonewall Jackson as an icon of leadership, he was probably one of the most gifted battlefield generals in the Civil War, though I would point out that he died from friendly fire, having been shot by his own men
The juxtaposition of the quotes from Jeff Davis and Abraham Lincoln I find more problematic. If one wants to argue from the position of absolute impartiality, maybe this is appropriate, but where do we draw the line? Would this be appropriate in a World History Course? Would we give Hitler and Mussolinis claims the same weight as those of FDR and Churchill? After all, there have been generations of individuals who have argued that the left-wing bias of academia has given Fascism and the Third Reich the short end of the stick, surely in our rush to avoid bias we dont want to validate the darkest crimes of the past.
I realize that in the end this is all politics, most often official histories are, but I think I may be forgiven if I indulge in a moment of righteous indignation. After all, the founder of the modern discipline of history, Leopold von Ranke, argued that the primary goal of all historians was to discuss history
wie es eigentlich gewesen (as it actually happened.) While most historians would agree that the absolute reconstruction of the past advocated by Ranke is impossible, it remains the noble goal that one hopes guides the writing of most history. Because in frankness, if we are truly appreciate our nation, we must consider all its history, its flaws and triumphs, its glories and its weaknesses. Only in doing so can we truly realize how privileged we are as Americans, only in doing so can we realize that we are a great nation not because we excelled with out flaws, but because we have excelled in spite of them. If the new Texas textbooks do not provide this understanding, then the state school board has ill-served its students.