Social Studies Summary/Votes Today-Live Blogging
UPDATE: NOW, OVER 5,000 TEXANS HAVE SIGNED OUR CHRISTMAS PETITION!! HAVE YOU? www.christmastextbooks.com
10:45 p.m.- hearing concludes at end of 8th grade. Rest of Social Studies will be taken up tomorrow. And we’ll be here.
10:33 p.m. – SBOE Member Dunbar gets right to work: John Locke, William Blackstone added to Grade 8.
10:15 p.m. Wealth of Nations book, added.
9:58 p.m. SBOE Member Cynthia Dunbar is now in the room. She appears to have had a schedule conflict over the past two days.
9:10 – Grade 6. Terri Leo brings amendment to go back to original list of holidays: Christmas, Easter, Ramadan, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah. Would mean Vaisakhi and the annual hajj. Amendment fails.
New list of holidays. Christmas, Easter, Ramadan, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hoshanah, Vaisakhi, Diwali, and the annual hajj.
8:58 p.m. SBOE meeting is back on. Up to be added-“understand the importance of morality and ethics in maintaining a functional free enterprise system” 7 Vote for, looks like mostly Republicans. It passes. Mavis Knight votes against it. Bob Craig doesn’t vote. Is this a controversial statement? Come on, where’s the leadership
7:17 p.m. Describe the significance of the Second Great Awakening. SBOE Member Cargill brings the motion. Voted down.
6:50 p.m. – Grade 5, Discussion over Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Paine, Sons of Liberty sought to be added. Motivations of Founding Fathers. Approved. Thomas Paine doesn’t make the cut, but he’s still in Grade 8.
5:54 p.m. Justice Raul A. Gonzalez is added to Grade 4.
See below for our part in the America is Exceptional Press Conference yesterday.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrgHVv4uvFE]
5:38 p.m. Grade 3. Agosto asks to put Henry Cisneros back (he was removed by writing teams). Hardy objects to him, his role as HUD director led to housing debacle, according to her. Amendment fails, Cisneros stays out.
5:27 p.m. Sam Walton is added in grade 3, section 8(C). Milton Hershey also added.
5:14 p.m. James A. Lovell, pilot of Apollo 13, added by SBOE Member Mercer, others. And Juliet Gordon Lowe. Ellen Ochoa, first Hispanic astronaut, added.
5:02 p.m. “The Four Chaplains” added. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Chaplains
Methodist Reverend George L. Fox, the Jewish Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, the Roman Catholic Priest John P. Washington and the Reformed Church in America Reverend Clark V. Poling
4:45 p.m. Paul Revere goes back in, he was taken out. American love of individualism, inventiveness, and freedom is in. W.E. DuBois is in.
4:22 p.m. SBOE Member Mercer-add Nathan Hale to grade 1. Passes. Hardy objects.
3:50 p.m. Social Studies debate and vote has started. Columbus getting some love, and John Smith. Added to Kindergarten grade, barely. SBOE Members, Nunez, Berlanga, Allen, and Knight voted against, at least. Couldn’t see the other hands against.
Jose Antonio Navarro also gets added to Kindergarten, with no objections.
Richard Alleen added to Grade 1, no objections.
SBOE Member Pat Hardy wants to strike the words “holding public officials to their word.” SBOE Member Bob Craig is also against this phrase. Reminds me of when he made rude comments about the 10,000 plus people that called on SBOE members to prevent censorship in the Science classrooms.
SBOE Member Allen opposes the phrase. SBOE Member Miller supports the phrase.
Phrase passes.
3:25 p.m. Social Studies debate and Vote about to begin.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT ITEMS:
Democratic Republic is how our government will be described.
Grades 3-12, Celebrate Freedom Week information will be the same in all grades.
Specific Reading selections are removed from all grades, not just some.
We’ll be providing live blog updates for the State Board of Education meeting today when they vote on important Social Studies issues.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRrc_brl-YQ]
Austin Liberals Are DESPARATE! THEY HAD TO GO ALL THE WAY TO OREGON TO FIND AN “ACADEMIC” THAT AGREED WITH THEIR ATTEMPTS TO CENSOR RELIGIOUS HERITAGE AND FACTS IN HISTORY, GOVERNMENT AND CULTURE. See yesterday’s blog post from hearing for details.
2:45 p.m. SBOE is still not on the Social Studies issue. Stay tuned!
1:05- SBOE is still on another issue. Should get to Social Studies soon.
11:05 a.m. The SBOE is taking up other unrelated issues at this point, but should get to the Social Studies issue soon!
For now, check out some coverage from yesterday! http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=852762
http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=20444
Have you signed our Christmas petition? There’s still time! www.christmastextbooks.com
RECAP OF SOCIAL STUDIES ISSUES AT STAKE:
Mary Kay Ash in one place as she is mentioned more often than Christopher Columbus.
? Mary Kay-Grade 3, page 23 of Social Studies (remove), U.S. History, page 10
? Christopher Columbus-Grade 3, page 21.
Columbus needs to be added back in one section.
? Christopher Columbus has been removed(needs to be put back): Grade 4, page 30;
? Columbus Day does remain: Grade 5, page 45.
? Return of Significant Figures Such as Neil Armstrong and George Patton Should Remain.
? Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein should be put back in. Removed from World History,
section 26(c).
? USSR reference as “expansionism” should be changed back to “aggression.” U.S. History 7(A):
? U.S. “expansion” has been changed to “imperialism”. It should be changed back to “expansionism”. U.S. History section 3(A).
* Neil Armstrong and George Patton should stay in (they were taken out in 2009, but put back in after public outcry). Grade 5, section 23(A)http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/pdf/ElementaryTEKSOct2009.pdf
& U.S. History 6(E) http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/pdf/USHistoryTEKSOct2009.pdf
* Keep Christmas in list of holidays. (was taken out by appointed committee in July 2009 draft, but put back in by appointed committee, not SBOE, after public outcry.
* While Christmas has been attacked and taken out at one point, Diwali, Vaisakhi, and the annual hajj were added. Grade 6, 19(B), http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/pdf/MSTEKSOct2009.pdf
*