There is always a problem when politics enter the classroom. Today, the Texas Board of Education will be voting on a resolution for publishers to view of Islam and picture of Christianity in history textbooks.
The issue is not that politicians are trying to socially engineer students to be of a like mind; it is that they are eliminating debate in the classroom. A court case that mirrors the school board’s involvement is Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
In this court case, 11 parents sued a school district in Pennsylvania, because they believed it was wrong for the board to agree to the promotion of Intelligent Design during a ninth-grade class that went over evolution.
Going to a judge for a new ruling could be a possible result of the actions of the Texas School Board (if a group of parents react like they did in Dover). This will present a major concern if it becomes a judge’s decision is.
The Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District ended with Judge John E. Johns III ruling that Intelligent Design was not science. While the definition of science can be pretty specific, the definition of history has more give and take to it.
This is because you’re dealing with people and their different perceptions. There has to be some sort of debate in the classroom of the variations that history gives. Whether it’s who shot first or the motivation behind the Declaration of Independence, history is debatable. The only issue that is not debatable is rewriting the facts to fit someone’s own agenda.The fact is that there’s no side of any dominant religion is without black eyes. There will always be preserved bias against any group simply because someone was sitting on the other side of the fence.
There will never be a writing of the absolute truth when it comes to history. The best that we can hope for is that students are given the tool of critical thinking to decide what they believe is the most plausible. Then, they must be allowed the open discussion to defend their beliefs with respect to those who disagree, no matter what those beliefs are.
