Texas Professor/Historian: Thomas Jefferson & Cesar Chavez in SBOE Approved Social Studies; Women, Minorities, Religion Covered Fairly

Click here for Social Studies/History action steps.

If you have been following the battle over Texas History/Social Studies standards, under review by the State Board of Education, you know that it can be hard to tell fact from fiction.  So we’ve link here to a Fact v. Fiction summary. SBOE Social Studies Fact Sheet  (this is an updated version-05/23/2010)

You also may have noticed Thomas Jefferson being used as a political pawn by the left. (Since when is the liberal left such big defenders of our Founding Fathers, like Jefferson?  I thought they supported a “living document” to the Constitution, which ignores the Founding Fathers).  SBOE Chair Gail Lowe cleans their mess up nicely here. http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=24183

Now, though, Professor Jesus F. de la Teja, a history professor from Texas State University who is adored by the liberal left as the “expert”,  has also stepped into the debate, to set the record straight at last week’s Mexican American Legislative Caucus hearing on Texas social studies, on the left’s attempt to distort the fair representation of women, minorities, and religion in the approved standards scheduled for a final vote on May 21st.

Professor de la Teja began by stating that the State Board of Education is doing what they are statutorily allowed to do (as he understands it).

Professor de le Teja admitted that Thomas Jefferson, Thurgood Marshall, Cesar Chavez, Irma Rangel, Dolores Huerta and many other were all in the standards and that reports about their alleged omission were incorrect and have had a negative impact on this process.  He admitted that minorities and women are covered fairly.  He also admitted that the coverage of religion was acceptable and there was no evidence of an imbalance in the amount of references to Christianity.  (I bet the ACLU and Austin liberals were not happy to hear a “credentialed” professor make this point). (Click here to see the ACLU’s attempt to take away your voice at the SBOE).

He even admitted to me that probably the best thing to do now, is to propose content changes now, and to take a final vote at the May 2010 State Board of Education meetings and work on changing the “process” thereafter.

Very interesting from a “credentialed” historian.  By the way, Professor de le Teja has decided not to sign the “Professor Letter” that the media has been covering like a blanket (click here to see letter).  Professor de la Teja is the “State Historian of Texas”, so his decision regarding this letter is very relevant.

To help clear up public misrepresentations about the social studies standards, Liberty Institute has compiled a condensed list of approved social studies standards for study.  Among those:

  • Historical Figures:  Neil Armstrong, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Columbus (voted back into standards, previously removed by unelected review committees (Columbus/Edison-partial).
  • Tejano leaders:  Juan N. Seguin, Lorenzo de Zavala, and Jose Antonio Navarro, others.
  • Important Concepts:   “American Exceptionalism”   
  • Contributions of Founding Fathers: John Hancock, John Jay, John Witherspoon, others
  • Thomas Jefferson: contribution of his political philosophy (he’s covered in four different sections)
  • Religious Heritage:  impact of religion and Judeo-Christian legal tradition on America.
  • Religious Diversity: Student will learn about Sikhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judiasm, and Confucianism.
  • Landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases: Brown v. Bd of Education, Sweat v. Painter, Hernandez v. Texas, Roe v. Wade, Tinker v. Des Moines, Miranda v. Arizona.
  • Notable/Cultural Leaders: Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, James A. Baker III, Hillary Clinton, Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, Sam Walton, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E. B. Dubois, Irma Rangel, Ellen Ochoa, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Harriet Tubman, Todd Beamer, Mary Kay Ash, Roy Benavidez, John “Danny” Olivas, Henry B. Gonzalez, Jonas Salk, Hector P. Garcia, Carmen Loma Garza, Vernon J. Baker, Michael Dell, George Washington Carver, Michael DeBakey… Groups: LULAC, Black Panthers, NAACP, NRA, Moral Majority, Heritage Foundation.
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