# is it just me or is this very worrisome \[article about conservative influence on history textbooks\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 12, 2010, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676 "2010-02-12T06:49:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/41 "2010-03-01T10:19:27Z")
**Shodan** quoting: > [@](#): > > Christian activists argue that American-history textbooks basically ignore religion — to the point that they distort history outright — and mainline religious historians tend to agree with them on this. You were quoting from the NYT article, but you failed to mention that the comment itself is from a fundamentalist involved in the Texas textbook selection process and not from the person covering the story. Naughty, naughty. You didn’t do this article justice. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/42 "2010-03-01T12:53:35Z")
The Texas Freedom Network has been worried about this stuff for a long time. But the group also **works** to counter the efforts of our more reactionary Fellow Texans. How did the[state school board](http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SBOE) get that way? > [@](#): > > The board has long been a “culture war” battleground, but battles over divisive social issues have increasingly dominated the board’s work in recent years. Religious conservatives began a concerted effort to take control of the state board beginning in 1992. Targeting first Democrats and then Republican incumbents, the board’s far-right faction has grown in power since that time. > > In 2006 the faction grew to seven members, and Gov. Rick Perry chose one – Don McLeroy, R-College Station – as board chairman in 2007. Even though the state Senate refused to confirm McLeroy’s appointment in 2009, the far-right faction continues to wield tremendous influence. In fact, the board continues to lurch from one divisive “culture war” battle to another on issues such as teaching creationism in public school science classes, insisting on abstinence-only policies in sex education, downplaying the contributions of minorities and different cultures in history, and blurring the line separating religion and government. Yes, the board members were elected. Mostly because many voters, alas, don’t really pay attention to that part of the ballot–unless they have axes to grind. And we’ve got some [unelected idiots](http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Social_Studies_Standards) appointed as advisors! > [@](#): > > Last spring, for example, the board appointed two prominent evangelical, political activists – [David Barton](http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=DBarton) of WallBuilders and [Peter Marshall](http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=PMarshall) of Peter Marshall Ministries – to a panel of so-called “experts” in social studies. > > Yet as TFN Insider reported, Barton and Marshall were absurdly unqualified to serve on such a panel. They got their places on the panel primarily because of their ideological beliefs – both are prominent religious-right leaders who oppose separation of church and state who want students to learn that the Founders intended to create a Christian nation based on fundamentalist biblical principles. They also want social studies classrooms to promote a conservative ideological agenda and censor instruction on progressive leaders such as Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall. Please follow the links to get more info on these fools. If you’re a Texan, join the TFN! Even if you aren’t, you might wish to check out some of the information at the website. Because students in many states could be affected. ETA: Not only recent “troublemakers” might be [removed from history](http://tfninsider.org/2009/07/07/blacklisting-cesar-chavez/). > [@](#): > > They also object to the inclusion of Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643), whose beliefs regarding equality and rights for women were rather progressive for her time. Hutchinson also challenged the prevailing religious doctrine of Puritan clergy in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her Bible meetings for women included her own religious and biblical interpretations — something that offended Puritan clergy and leaders of the colony. Those clergy and colonial officials put Hutchinson on trial and then exiled her. > > Barton and Marshall argue that Hutchinson was simply too unimportant a historical figure. But Marshall’s argument is particularly revealing: > > > [@](#): > > > > “She was certainly not a significant colonial leader, and didn’t accomplish anything except getting herself exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for making trouble.” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/43 "2010-03-01T14:25:47Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **Shodan** quoting: > > You were quoting from the NYT article, but you failed to mention that the comment itself is from a fundamentalist involved in the Texas textbook selection process and not from the person covering the story. Naughty, naughty. > > You didn’t do this article justice. To the extent that I understand what you are claiming, it is false. The comment you quoted is indeed from the reporter, and Martin Marty is not a fundamentalist and (AFAIK) is not involved in the Texas textbook selection process. **Bridget Burke** - what exactly did Anne Hutchinson achieve, apart from being exiled, that affected the Massachusetts Bay Colony to such a degree that she should be included instead of people like John Cotton or Roger Williams? Perhaps they should include a session studying their Thanksgiving. Or, perhaps, some of the [other significant event](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Massacre_of_1622)s of the period. The Right wants to present history as an uninterrupted upward sweep from glory to glory, under the rule of Almighty God. The Left wants to present it as a series of massacres of the politically correct by the Evil White Hegemony[sup]TM[/sup]. 'Twas ever thus. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/44 "2010-03-01T16:20:19Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > … **Bridget Burke** - what exactly did Anne Hutchinson achieve, apart from being exiled, that affected the Massachusetts Bay Colony to such a degree that she should be included instead of people like John Cotton or Roger Williams? Perhaps they should include a session studying their Thanksgiving. Or, perhaps, some of the [other significant event](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Massacre_of_1622)s of the period… Anne Hutchinson would not be studied “instead of” the other worthies. Read the text of the objections, linked from[this page](http://tfninsider.org/2009/07/07/blacklisting-cesar-chavez/): > [@](#): > > 113.7 Grade 5. (b) (1) History. (B) “describe the accomplishments of significant colonial leaders such as Anne Hutchinson, William Penn, John Smith, and Roger Williams.” Anne Hutchinson does not belong in the company of these eminent gentlemen. She was certainly not a significant colonial leader, and didn’t accomplish anything except getting herself exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for making trouble. > > 113.7 Grade 5 (19) Citizenship (C). “Identify significant individuals such as Cesar Chavez and Benjamin Franklin who modeled active participation in the democratic process.” To have Cesar Chavez listed next to Ben Franklin is ludicrous. Chavez is > hardly the kind of role model that ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation. Looking to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Hutchinson) for a middle-of-the-road opinion, I find: > [@](#): > > She is a key figure in the study of the development of religious freedom in England’s American colonies and the history of women in ministry. The state of Massachusetts honors her with a State House monument calling her a “courageous exponent of civil liberty and religious toleration.” Also, she was one of the founders of Rhode Island. I left in the second section just for fun. Ben Franklin was a great American & a delightful fellow. But, surely, he got up to some antics that Rev Marshall would consider sinful. [This quotation](http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=PMarshall) from the Rev gives a clue to his problem with Anne Hutchinson: > [@](#): > > At some point in life’s journey, both boys and girls must break free from the mother/woman as the source of vitality and power, and yield to Jesus as the source of power and life. Many women have found themselves crying out for someone to deliver them from the natural compulsion to control the lives of others, which is what years of being the life-giving source of vitality for children and husband can easily turn into. And boys cannot become men capable of exercising Godly power in the world as protectors and providers, men who have mastered themselves and thus can execute justice in society and right its wrongs, unless they have separated from their mothers and given themselves to One who is greater than their earthly fathers. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/45 "2010-03-01T16:34:26Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > You missed the part where they’re trying to rehabilitate Senator McCarthy, then. > [http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/the\_rehabilitation\_of\_joseph\_mccarthy\_texas\_textbo.php](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/the_rehabilitation_of_joseph_mccarthy_texas_textbo.php) > > Yeah, Tailgunner Joe as an American Hero. Well, [Ann](http://hnn.us/articles/1554.html%29) [Coulter](http://www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/anncoulter.php) said so, so it must be true! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/46 "2010-03-01T17:08:44Z")
Anne got a Parkway named after her, all the way down in New York State, too. Early feminist, and a rabble rouser. I generally approve of as many rabble rousers, rebels, and ne’er do wells being taught in our history classes as possible. Especially if they made things happen. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/47 "2010-03-02T19:59:25Z")
> [@](#): > > 113.7 Grade 5. (b) (1) History. (B) “describe the accomplishments of significant colonial leaders such as Anne Hutchinson, William Penn, John Smith, and Roger Williams.” Anne Hutchinson does not belong in the company of these eminent gentlemen. She was certainly not a significant colonial leader, and didn’t accomplish anything except getting herself exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for making trouble. > > 113.7 Grade 5 (19) Citizenship (C). “Identify significant individuals such as Cesar Chavez and Benjamin Franklin who modeled active participation in the democratic process.” To have Cesar Chavez listed next to Ben Franklin is ludicrous. Chavez is > hardly the kind of role model that ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation. The basic issue is that it is ludicrous to compare Cesar Chavez and Ben Franklin as if they were figures of equal historical import. Likewise with Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams - it becomes fairly obvious fairly quickly that one is included because of his significant role in American history, and the other simply out of political correctness. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/48 "2010-03-02T20:04:31Z")
True, Roger Williams isn’t that important, unlike Anne’s critical role in what became the suffrage movement. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/49 "2010-03-02T20:33:06Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > The Right wants to present history as an uninterrupted upward sweep from glory to glory, under the rule of Almighty God. The Left wants to present it as a series of massacres of the politically correct by the Evil White Hegemony[sup]TM[/sup]. You act as if that’s not true. I’m sure Catholics and Protestants differed civilly and simply decided to ignore each other for being heretics. Or that women such as Hutchinson wasn’t rebelling against an oppressive patriachal environment. For her to do that at that time is both courageous and worthy of veneration. Probably much more so than some guys who escaped England simply so they could teach their own brand of narrow-minded religious intolerance without interference. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/50 "2010-03-03T12:43:24Z")
Member, State Board of Education, District 9 Don McLeroy - Incumbent REP 21,755 50.25% 55,368 49.62% Thomas Ratliff REP 21,536 49.74% 56,207 50.37% ----------- ----------- [http://enr.sos.state.tx.us/enr/results/mar02\_148\_state.htm](http://enr.sos.state.tx.us/enr/results/mar02_148_state.htm) Good news, everybody! ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/51 "2010-03-03T13:22:32Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > The basic issue is that it is ludicrous to compare Cesar Chavez and Ben Franklin as if they were figures of equal historical import. Likewise with Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams - it becomes fairly obvious fairly quickly that one is included because of his significant role in American history, and the other simply out of political correctness. > > Regards, > Shodan Under the standard that you’ve listed, Cesar Chavez belongs there just as much as Benjamin Franklin. The only difference is that Chavez had brown skin and organized other people with brown skin into a labor union. Thus, Benjamin Franklin is venerated because he’s white and part of our country’s creation, and Cesar Chavez shouldn’t be included in the curriculum except out of pity and white guilt. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/52 "2010-03-03T13:30:22Z")
So McLeroy loses his seat. Which is great, assuming the guy he lost to isn’t equally or more retarded - I have no idea what his story is. It’s depressing that it was by such a slim margin, though. Without McLeroy, who’s going to stand up to all these experts!? ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/53 "2010-03-03T15:34:57Z")
There is no statutory requirement that your school board buy books approved in Texas. You school board may buy it’s books, or refuse to buy books, anywhere. Texas chooses to centralize it’s purchases, and chooses to have a single authority over those choices. Your school board is not required to do that. But the only real difference is that your school board mostly does what takes the least effort, and lowest dollar cost. That means you, by electing your school board, endorse the choice of Conservative, politically motivated social engineering by the secular power of Protestant Christian Church groups. Given that book publishing is a contracting market, and text books are the strongest sector of that market, purchaser power should be as powerful a force as economics will allow. If you really care about your own children, and you disagree with the Texas School Board, you will need to actually do something about it. Overwhelmingly, that is not the case. The evil book manufactures sell the books approved in Texas at a lower cost, because they have a ten year contract to produce millions of books. Pay more. Buy books selected by your local school board. Buy books selected by yourself. There is no law preventing you from telling your children the truth, if you think that modern educational methods do not. Hearing from both points of view will make your children actually have to decide on their own opinions. Of course, that would require you to spend a bit more time actually speaking with your children. Tris ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/54 "2010-03-04T15:28:54Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > There is no statutory requirement that your school board buy books approved in Texas. You school board may buy it’s books, or refuse to buy books, anywhere. Texas chooses to centralize it’s purchases, and chooses to have a single authority over those choices. Your school board is not required to do that. … This is, strictly speaking, true in 30 states. In the other 20, school boards must buy books from the “state adoption” list – the list approved by the state board. [Cite.](https://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/57/75/5775.htm) Approval usually hinges on whether state standards are covered sufficiently; committees on or formed to advise state boards recommend adoptable books and the state board votes on them. In non-adoption states, there is still frequently pressure on teachers and administrators to demonstrate that they’re covering all the state standards, so books that obviously do that have an edge in all states. Keep in mind that there are currently only three major textbook providers in the US K-12 market: [Pearson](http://www.pearson.com/about-us/education/), [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt](http://www.hmhco.com/at-school.html), and [McGraw-Hill](http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/edu/default.shtml). These three have various subsidiaries and the subsidiaries have various programs in each discipline, but it really comes down to just three corporations. (There are a handful of independents, but they generally lack the resources to develop full programs – schools usually like to purchase a set of the same brand across several grades, and get all the integrated extra stuff that comes with a main textbook – so they are very minor players in practical terms.) While there’s no requirement that adoption states buy Texas-approved books, the way the big 3 companies develop books right now does mean that Texas has an influence. I think the influence is exaggerated and soon to fade, but the influence is there. In short, companies develop books that _offend_ no state, and then add things to satisfy individual states’ requirements for state editions as needed. If, for instance, no state pipes up saying they’d be offended if Joe McCarthy were featured as a great American, but Texas requires this, Joe would most likely show up in all the books. However, if California et al squawk, as I’m pretty sure they would, Joe would be featured in a special Texas section glued into Texas editions at the press, or in a separate booklet or something. > [@Triskadecamus](#): > > But the only real difference is that your school board mostly does what takes the least effort, and lowest dollar cost. … This has not been my experience. They are definitely interested in low cost, but “least effort” – not so much. I would agree that few school boards do an excellent job of evaluating textbooks – it’s a Herculean task – but not for lack of trying. I really think the biggest problem is not that school boards can’t be bothered to do a thorough job, but that too many people _can_ be bothered, and you get way too many cooks advising the soup. (Phonics! No, whole language! Facts! No, thinking skills! Standards and accountability! No, teachers’ choice and kids’ individual needs!) ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/55 "2010-03-04T16:02:18Z")
> [@emmaliminal](#): > > {Some very good, and less strident points} I must confess to being a bit to angry about this. My underlying point is that the religious right is reliably more active on local school issues in more places than the more liberal portions of the population. The reason that text books skew to the right, and to religious based views is that those are the characteristics of the people who care most ardently about doing something about the issue. The point you make about the herculean effort needed to counter it is only half the story, the other side is that the herculean effort is pretty much in place, and active on the conservative side, and not just in Texas. Tris ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/56 "2010-05-21T22:57:23Z")
[The vote](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/21/national/main6506099.shtml) wasn’t even close. 9-5 says Jesus founded the US riding on a dinosaur. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/57 "2010-05-22T00:11:35Z")
> [@](#): > > 113.7 Grade 5 (19) Citizenship (C). “Identify significant individuals such as Cesar Chavez and Benjamin Franklin who modeled active participation in the democratic process.” To have Cesar Chavez listed next to Ben Franklin is ludicrous. Chavez is hardly the kind of role model that ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation. :dubious: Waitaminnit, why **isn’t** [Cesar Chavez](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Chavez) the kind of role model that ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/58 "2010-05-22T00:13:11Z")
Woops, just noticed there’s a new [pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=564052) to cover this. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676/59 "2010-05-22T01:58:32Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Woops, just noticed there’s a new [pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=564052) to cover this. I was wondering who had revived this Zombie thread. Don McLeroy is, indeed a lame duck. The Republican who won the primary is fairly conservative but is not a Young Earth Creationist. Their district is Bryan, Texas. Aggieland. Once again, I recommend the [Texas Freedom Network.](http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer)_Why_ does Texas have such a voice in national textbook selection? If you are not a Texan, what are you doing to improve things in _your_ state? If you\* are\* a Texan, contribute! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-very-worrisome-article-about-conservative-influence-on-history-textbooks/528676.md?page=2)