Texas Gets Failing Grade In History

Every few years the Thomas B. Fordham Institute evaluates the history curriculum of each of the states in grades K through 12. Then they give each state a letter grade. They have just released the results of their most recent evaluation, and it's not very good. In fact, it's downright embarrassing. At least 28 states got either a D or an F for their academic standards in history -- grades that they should be ashamed of.

A few states did get very good grades. The state of South Carolina was the only state to get an A, but five other states got an A-minus -- Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts and New York. The District of Columbia also got an A-minus. I'm not going to list the grades of all the states, but if you would like to know how your individual state did you can go to this website.

The state of Texas didn't do too well (which is no real surprise, considering the recent antics of the State School Board). Texas got a grade of D. Here's what the Fordham Institute had to say about Texas:

Texas combines a rigidly thematic and theory-based social studies structure with a politicized distortion of history. The result is both unwieldy and troubling, avoiding clear historical explanation while offering misrepresentations at every turn.

Texas’s heavily politicized 2010 revisions to its social studies curriculum have attracted massive national attention. Indeed, both in public hearings and press interviews, the leaders of the State Board of Education made no secret of their evangelical Christian- right agenda, promising to inculcate biblical principles, patriotic values, and American exceptionalism.

Texas has constructed a bizarre amalgam of traditionally ahistorical social studies—combining the usual inclusive, diversity-driven checklists with a string of politically and religiously motivated historical distortions. It is particularly ironic that the aggressively right-tilting Texas Board of Education embraced the mindset and methodology of social studies, traditionally the tool of a left-leaning educational establishment. The result is the worst of both worlds. Rigor is difficult to assess, for coherent content outlines are not provided; teachers only get bald references to events and lists of names, split among confusing strands and courses. The only real difference at higher grade levels is that there are somewhat more examples, specific events, and time spans. Most disturbingly, history is distorted throughout the document in the interest of political talking points.

A popular Lone Star State slogan proclaims “Texas: It’s like a whole other country”—but Texas’s standards are a disservice both to its own teachers and students and to the larger national history of which it remains a part.