# Texas textbooks are inaccurate, biased and politicized **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 6, 2015, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696 "2015-10-06T08:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696/41 "2015-10-08T17:36:51Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Yeah, the complaints about Texas are correct. I was saying California is not like that. There’s something going on in California because my wife is an elementary school teacher and all her textbooks say “California edition” on the front cover. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696/42 "2015-10-08T18:13:01Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > There’s something going on in California because my wife is an elementary school teacher and all her textbooks say “California edition” on the front cover. The Texas Freedom Network which has been covering Texas schoolbooks forever (among other issues) says that modern printing technology has made other states less dependent on the weird thinking of the Texas State Board of Education. Of course, those other states need to care enough to order special editions. [Further details:](http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issues_public_schools_SBOE_adoption_process) > [@](#): > > Texas spends tens of millions of dollars each year on new textbooks. As a result, publishers often create textbooks for this state and also sell the books to schools in other states. Texas is also one of 22 states with a centralized process for adopting textbooks. Censorship proponents work hard to influence this process and have strong allies on the 15-member, elected State Board of Education (SBOE). The SBOE approves or rejects textbooks for adoption. > > After years in which some SBOE members pressured publishers to edit content to which they had political or ideological objections, the Legislature in 1995 stripped much of the board’s authority over textbook approval. The new law permitted the board to reject textbooks only if the books: > [ul] > [li]fail to meet the state’s curriculum standards, [/li][li]include factual errors, and/or [/li][li]do not meet manufacturing standards.[/li][/ul] > Approved textbooks may be placed on one of two lists: conforming and nonconforming. Conforming textbooks meet all of the state’s curriculum standards. Nonconforming textbooks meet at least half, but not all, of the state’s curriculum standards. Local school districts may use state funds to purchase textbooks from either the conforming or nonconforming lists. Local school districts may not use state money to purchase textbooks not approved by the SBOE. So, it used to be worse. And some states have similar methods for picking textbooks–States Rights, folks! Note that Texas districts have freedom in choosing texts. But if they want books not on the lists(s), they must buy them with their own funds. Of course, districts & teachers _may_ supplement texts with other materials or classroom teaching. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696/43 "2015-10-08T18:17:01Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s something going on in California because my wife is an elementary school teacher and all her textbooks say “California edition” on the front cover. In the California editions, Harriet Tubman won the Civil War single-handed, Eleanor Roosevelt was the first lesbian President, and George Washington is hailed as the Father of Medical Marijuana. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696/44 "2015-10-08T19:28:53Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Not true for California. [Cite](http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/imfrpfaq1.asp) . . . . Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696/45 "2015-10-10T03:10:41Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > There’s something going on in California because my wife is an elementary school teacher and all her textbooks say “California edition” on the front cover. > [@Shodan](#): > > In the California editions, Harriet Tubman won the Civil War single-handed, Eleanor Roosevelt was the first lesbian President, and George Washington is hailed as the Father of Medical Marijuana. My understanding is that California history texts are required to have a certain amount of California-specific content. There’s some merit to the idea: history textbooks in general tend to focus on the English settlement of Virginia and New England and then proceed westward, essentially ignoring California’s existence prior to 1849. The reality is that the Spanish settlement of western America preceded English settlement. Many eastern Americans would be surprised to learn, for example, that Santa Fe, New Mexico was founded twenty years before Boston, Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696/46 "2015-10-10T03:40:54Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > In the California editions, Harriet Tubman won the Civil War single-handed, Eleanor Roosevelt was the first lesbian President, and George Washington is hailed as the Father of Medical Marijuana. > > Regards, > Shodan I’ll guess that you’re joking. Did I guess right? If so, here’s a pro tip: When the gap between a poster’s sincere ideations and his attempt at self-parody is quite slight, as here, inserting a smiley-face is appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696/47 "2015-10-11T00:21:19Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > In the California editions, Harriet Tubman won the Civil War single-handed, Eleanor Roosevelt was the first lesbian President, and George Washington is hailed as the Father of Medical Marijuana. > > Regards, > Shodan Shodan’s just mad because the hymn to Saint Ronald got removed from the latest edition. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized/733696.md?page=2)