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TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

Texas Education: A Political Observation of the Effects Different

Views Can Have On Our Way of Educating
Robert Martinez
Palo Alto Community College

TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

Abstract
This collection of documents reviews information on 5 different articles that explore the
relationship of conservative and liberal views on education in Texas and how education is
organized and decided upon. This is done by analyzing the Texas Board of Education and the
way they decide how education should be taught by reviewing articles published by Kurt
Eichenwald(2014) and Gail Collins(2012. Intelligent Design Creationism (IDC) will also be
expanded upon and how it has influenced the way some charter schools are guiding their
students. An article published by Zack Kopplin(2014) evaluate more on what is taught in
textbooks created by organizations aiming to implicate Christian values in their teachings. A
specific article created by Jonny Scaramanga(2013) will evaluate on a specific attack on
Darwinism by reviewing claims made in textbooks in a Houston charter school claiming that
Hitler was influenced by Darwinism. More in depth on this topic will be a review of the
statement the Board of Directors at the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) created specifically for this topic about the involvement of evolution being taught in
schools. Responsive Educations curriculum will be expanded upon in this paper to further
examine how Christian faith influences various charter schools located in Texas. This paper
examines the research done on these articles to determine the influence that the people in power
have over the education being taught in Texas, as well as the rest of the nation.
Keywords: Intelligent Design Creationism, American Association for the Advancement of
Science

TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

Texas Education: A Political Observation of the Effects Different

Views Can Have On Our Way of Educating
Texas education has long since been debated upon by conservatists and liberals alike,
each battling for superiority over the Board of Education. For a time, conservatists and
evangilists for Christian beliefs have since reigned superior over the educational system, which
gave rise to charter schools founded upon Judeo-Christian beliefs. These schools are alternatives
for public schools and teach intelligent design creationism (IDC) in their Texas-approved
textbooks. The textbooks have been found, as shown in research done by Jonny
Scaramanga(2013) and Gail Collins(2012), to have a negative impact on not just Texas students,
but students around the nation. The board aims at creating a educational system that promotes
...citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for
authority and respect for individual rights(Kurt Eichenwald, 2014). This means they are willing
to distort important historical information, such as slavery and segregation, to avoid causing
Texas or the United States to look bad and instead emphasize on religious influences. This indepth analysis on Texas education examines the way education is governed in Texas, IDC based
charted schools and their influence in Texas, and inaccurate textbooks as well as controversial
subjects being taught at some charter schools located in texas, even expanding into other parts of
the country.
In Eichenwald et al.'s (2014) article he examines the textbooks that are approved in the
state of Texas. Publishers are influenced by the state of Texas " because the state is such a huge

TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

purchaser of school textbooks, publishers often opt to print whatever the Lone Star State wants
for students all over the country(Eichenwald et al., 2014). It is noted that the State Board of
Education in Texas is also "driven by political conservatives and Christian
evangelicals(Eichenwald et al., 2014). The size of the lone star state economically affects the
majority of publishers, which influences them to publish books according to Texas guidelines.
This causes books that may be distorted historically to be mass produced and released to students
across the nation. Popular authors of books such as McGraw-Hill have shown to take political
standpoints in their books as well. In Eichenwald et al.'s (2014) article, he makes a statement
about a particular book by this author by stating: A McGraw-Hill textbook called United States
Government regurgitates the right-wing Christian talking point that the Constitution does not
include the words separation between church and state while ignoring the extensive support for
this concept by both Madison and Jefferson, and the rulings of the Supreme Court that all make it
clear that such a separation is indeed encompassed by the First Amendment.
The board members who run the Board of Education in Texas are elected through a
voting process open to the public but since the turnout in Texas is always lacking at best, the
advantage for the elected party always goes to those with rich backers with passionate supporters
of their cause. In Collins et al.'s (2012) article, Collins explains these factors involving elections
and the selection process of candidates, along with "a natural supply of political
eccentrics...helps explain how Texas once had a board member who believed that public schools
are the tool of the devil(Collins et al., 2012). Examinations of past economic influences yielded
results that also showed how much Texas really affected publishers. Collins et al.'s article
references the date of 1994 where the board requested four hundred revisions in five health

TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

textbooks it was considering, and popular Texas publisher "Holt, Rinehart and Winston was the
target for the most changes, including the deletion of toll-free numbers for gay and lesbian
groups and teenage suicide prevention groups"(Collins et al., 2012). The board members and
their decisions on textbooks has historically shown to have heavily biased influences on one side
of the political spectrum, but their power has dwindled since then.
Charter schools stationed in Texas provide alternatives to public school, usually to attain
accellerated learning courses aimed at speeding up the high school graduation process while at
the same time attaining college credits toward a paticular college that a student might be looking
to graduate to after high school. However, some of these charter schools do not seem to be
regulated according to Texas standards. In Kopplin et al.'s (2014) article, he explores the
regulations and guidelines of a particular charter system named Responsive Education Solutions
and reveals astonishing results among the textbooks and other required readings needed to
graduate from the program. "The more than 17,000 students in the Responsive Education
Solutions charter system will learn in their history classes that some residents of the Philippines
were pagans in various levels of civilization. Theyll read in a history textbook that feminism
forced women to turn to the government as a surrogate husband(Kopplin et al., 2014). Millions
of taxpayer money goes to the funding of this particular charter system and is continueing to
expand in Texas. Biology workbooks, as researched by Kopplin et al.(2014), yielded attempts to
discredit science by claiming the uncertainty in fossil records is due to a lack of a single source
for all the rock layers as an argument against evolution cited from a Responsive Ed biology
workbook(as cited in Kopplin et al., 2014). A scientific exploration of this claim would yield a
different conclusion as asserted in an interview conducted between Kopplin and Ken Miller, co-

TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

author of the Miller-Levine Biology textbook which was published by Pearson and is a widely
recognized science textbook. Ken Miller states in his interview Of course there is no single
source for all rock layers, however, the pioneers of the geological sciences observed that the
sequence of distinctive rock layers in one place (southern England, for example) could be
correlated with identical layers in other places, and eventually merged into a single system of
stratigraphy. All of this was established well before Darwin's work on evolution(as cited in
Kopplin et al., 2014). Their workbook also makes claims that evolution is a scientific
controversy and is widely debated among scientists, however a 2006 statement published by the
AAAS Board of Directors et al. (2006) shows a different perspective on the issue. "Evolution is
one of the most robust and widely accepted principles of modern science, the statement
continues to define the controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution as not a scientific
one (Board of Directors (AAAS) et al., 2006). The statement continues to explain the problem
of teaching alternatives to evolution and explains these attacks on the integrity of science
threaten not just the teaching of evolution, but students understanding of the biological,
physical, and geological sciences" (Board of Directors (AAAS) et al., 2006). Responsive Ed also
attempts to misinform students about vaccines linking to autism, however this claim has long
since been disproven and after extensive studying of the relationship between vaccines and
autism, it was shown to have no relation (Kopplin et al., 2014).
Other Charter schools such as iSchool High have show to have ridiculous claims located
in their textbooks as well. As quoted from a science book issued to students attending iSchool
High: "[Hitler] has written that the Aryan (German) race would be the leader in all human
progress. To accomplish that goal, all lower races should either be enslaved or eliminated.

TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

Apparently the theory of evolution and its survival of the fittest philosophy had taken root in
Hitlers warped mind (as cited in Scaramanga et al., 2013). The textbook evidently aims to
teach kids that evolution is directly associated with Hitlers actions involving the Holocaust by
inspiring him to commit such a heinous crime. Responsive Ed, the curriculum that is used in
iSchool High, is known to be associated with ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) by its
founder Donald R. Howard, who previously was the owner of ACE(see Appendix A for more
information on ACE). Howard is the known founder of Responsive Ed as well. Scaramanga et
al.'s (2013) article states "In 2010, more than 20 percent of Texas charter schools reportedly had
a religious affiliation, with Responsive Ed attempting to further expand (Scaramanga et al.,
2013).
Conclusion and Further Study
According to the readings present in this paper, it is clear that political views can have a
strong impact on the education standards issued to our children. It is important to know that
history and sciences must be taught as they are: concrete and factual. Historical distortions and
alterations made to textbooks greatly influence the way future generations are educated and as
such, should be handled with great care. Scientific facts stated in textbooks must remain and not
be influenced by faith and religion so that it stays credible information to be taught in schools.
The Texas Board of Education must remain unbiased in their decisions regarding education
because of the massive influence they have over not just the children of Texas, but those spread
across the United States.

TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

References
Board of Directors at AAAS. "Statement on the Teaching of Evolution." (n.d.): n. pag. 16
Feb. 2006. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/migrate/uploads/0219boardstatement.pdf>.
Collins, Gail. "How Texas Inflicts Bad Textbooks on Us by Gail Collins." How
Texas Inflicts Bad Textbooks on Us by Gail Collins. The New York
Review Of Books, 21 June 2012. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.

TEXAS EDUCATION: A POLITICAL OBSERVATION

<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/21/how-texas-inflicts-badtextbooks-on-us/>.
Kopplin, Zack. "Texas Public Charter Schools Are Teaching Creationism."
Www.slate.com. Slate, 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.slate.
com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_texas_public_schools_
undermining_the_charter_movement.html>.
Scaramanga, Jonny. "Darwin Inspired Hitler: Lies They Teach in Texas."
Saloncom RSS. Salon, 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.salon.com/2013/10/25/christian_textbooks_darwin_inspired_hitler/>.

Appendix A
Accelerate Christian Education
ACE infuses biblical and academic standards to build the foundation of their curriculum. It
teaches young-Earth creationism as fact. Young-Earth creationism is based on biblical
interpretations of Earth, divine intervention, and attempts to explain various biblical stories as
fact, such as explaining how the earth can not be 4.5 billion years old.