Mexican-American Studies Should Be In All Texas Schools

In the coming board meeting, the Texas State Board of Education is going to be discussing the development of new courses to be taught in Texas schools. The Texas Freedom Network wants one of those new courses to be Mexican-American Studies (as an elective). I wholeheartedly agree, and I would go even further and make it a required course for all high school students.

I know that many right-wingers want Texas to be a White English-only state with a White and English past -- but that has never been the truth.

The fact is that Texas was discovered and settled first by the Spanish, and Spanish was spoken in Texas for hundreds of years before English. Even after the Spanish were driven out, Texas was a part of Mexico. And when Texas fought for its independence from Mexico in 1836, it was not a Whites versus Hispanics battle -- because many Hispanics living in Texas at that time fought beside White settlers for independence. All one has to do is look at the names of many Texas cities and counties to realize there were many Mexican-American heroes in Texas history.

Unfortunately, the state history taught in our public schools ignores much of the contributions of Hispanics throughout the state's history. Creating a Mexican-American Studies program would be a small step in rectifying this egregious oversight. Texas has always been a multi-cultural state, and I believe most Texans like it that way. It's time we taught the truth in our schools.

The State Board of Education is very right-wing oriented -- and they will need to be pushed by the people of Texas to create a Mexican-American Studies program. To that end, the Texas Freedom Network has created a petition calling for the program to be created and instituted in our schools. The more signatures the petition gets, the less the Board can ignore it. I have signed it, and I urge all my fellow Texans to do the same. You can access the petition at this site.