Monday, August 17, 2009

On teaching Texas history...

...if what this guy says has any truth to it, the teaching of Texas history is going to go to hell before too long:

...some team members worry that traditional American values and historical perspective will be de-emphasized to promote multiculturalism.
“I argued in favor of only adding or maintaining people on the (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) lists that merited being there on the basis of their historical accomplishments and not simply due to their gender or ethnicity,” said Peter Morrison, a real estate developer and member of the Lumberton ISD school board and a member of the Grade 5 review panel.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “I felt that I was the only one in the group using that metric.”

I must admit, though, that I don't find that the least bit surprising considering the attitude of some Hispanics from what seems to be a pretty wide social strata. For one, we have the group of Hispanic lawmakers who urged the NRA not to count a vote for Sonia Sotomayor, and then there was the controversy over naming Houston's soccer team after the year the city was founded. I can understand people wanting to tell history from their own point of view, but considering the fact that so many Mexican immigrants still have a problem with Texas breaking free from Mexico what has to be over a century before they were even BORN, I'm sure you can forgive me for questioning just whose side they're on. And I'd love to see somebody with the stones to remind them that if Texas was still part of Mexico as they apparently wish it was, it would be plagued with all the problems they came here to get away from. Again, I DO NOT mean this as an indictment of all Hispanics in Texas. I am sure there are plenty who came to this country who have complete allegiance to the United States and its culture even as they retain elements of their own -- perhaps even a majority of them. But sadly, it seems to me that those people are being drowned out by the grievance-mongering minority. And even more sadly, it seems that some who are part of that noisy minority are now in power. It makes me glad I grew up and went to school when I did, certainly.