Texas Board of Education Says Thomas Jefferson Didn’t Contribute Much to America’s Intellectual Origins

By on March 16, 2010 in News 16

Thomas JeffersonThe Texas Board of Education is seeking to rewrite certain portions of their state’s history books with their version of conservatism.

Among the proposed changes are reducing the scope of Latino history and culture, removing hip hop music from a list of important cultural movements, portraying Joseph McCarthy in a more positive light, and downplaying Thomas Jefferson’s influence in the intellectual origins of America.

Yes, Thomas Jefferson.

In his place, they want to highlight St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, and William Blackstone.

Read more about it on Yahoo News.

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  • tonyviner

    I hope this is a joke. I'm not sure what anyone expects, these are the same people that cheered when George W. Bush made Jesus Day.

    • 5by5

      So not a joke. They really are THAT CRAZY.

      • Tuna Ghost

        Not only is it not a joke the story is even bigger and worse than the article suggests. This story has caused me to realize I have inherited my mother's incalcuable rage.

  • Hadrian999

    I wonder how long it will be before we see universities not acknowledging texas diplomas

    • 5by5

      Problem is, those little goobers determine what the textbooks say for the entire NATION.

      So to answer the Shrub's “Is our childrens learnin'?” question, “Thanks you Texas, no. No they aren't.”

      But yeah, take comfort, our children are also learning that the McCarthy witch hunts that needlessly destroyed so many innocent lives are now doubleplus good, and white country music deserves mention, but black hip-hop music? Not so much.

      Anti-female batcrap crazy activist & (thankfully) universal failure Phyllis Schlafly gets mention, but Ted Kennedy who passed National Cancer Act, the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Voting Rights Act, funding for AIDS treatment, Title IX which gave millions of women access to college via sports scholarships, who secured freedom for Soviet dissidents, who overrode Reagan's veto to pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act which ultimately led to Nelson Mandela's release, who passed the COBRA Act giving people at least some access to medical care if they lose a job, who passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Civil Rights Act, the National and Community Service Trust Act which created Americorps, passed increases in Minimum Wage, created the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Mental Health Parity Act,

      Say what you will about the man politically or even about his private life, he DID have an impact on the country and an OVERWHELMINGLY positive one – one might argue even greater than his Presidential brother – simply by virtue of time spent enacting laws.

      To eliminate him, is about as nonsensical as eliminating another adulterer, Thomas Jefferson (They didn't call him “the lover of Virginia” because he liked his state).

      And to then try to claim that excising him from the text “isn't a political move” is a bald-faced LIE.

      • Hadrian999

        hopefully this will open the door for actual Historians to write
        books along the lines of “things the don't want you to know”
        revealing the system for the joke it really is.
        perhaps this is our “refer madness”

  • http://lovewithoutsound.tumblr.com/ adam

    just let them secede already

  • GWF Hegel

    “do you know he had a lisp? wathup jerkth, i'm thomath jefferthon!”

    • 5by5

      Probably why he spoke little, and stuck to writing knick-knacks like THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

  • Sanger

    ROFLMAO! We're Doomed!

  • ebwolf

    I guess the only thing left to do is for sane citizens around the country to pressure their state school boards to make sure any textbooks purchased are NOT approved by the Texas school board.

    • Tuna Ghost

      It won't be that easy, I'm afraid–it's not the schools that will be making some of the choices. The publishers of text books look to Texas for their standards because it's the biggest market outside of California. And since nobody but California uses California textbooks (for various reasons) virtually all textbook publishers follow Texas' standards, trying to get a piece of that enormous market. THAT'S how this affects the entire country. Although this new Texas School Board Regulation is so sickening that may soon change, it likely won't happen soon until other factors pop up.

      • Hadrian999

        people who look to texas for anything shouldn't be trusted with educational texts

  • Patrick

    I'm from Dallas…why does my home state always seem way more fucked than it appears? I seriously hope that the close minded rodents spread across Texas don't ruin the minds of my state's and my country's youngins (don't take my use of that word too seriously).

    The good news is that Texas has an awful public school system, so this material probably won't be effectively taught. Yay!

  • a very sad man

    as a texan, i am DEEPLY disgusted with this.

    ugh….

  • a very sad man

    as a texan, i am DEEPLY disgusted with this.

    ugh….