This petition was created in order to spread awareness about and speak out against certain changes to the 2010-2011 curriculum made and approved by the TEA and Texas School Board of Education. On May 21, 2010 these changes were approved to a 9-5 vote and will affect all elementary, middle and high schools in Texas starting next year.

While not all of those changes approved of are threatening to the historical, economical and social aspects of Texas curriculum, some of these changes will have damaging effects to the millions of students learning from this curriculum and to the way history will be taught and received in the United States. Since Texas remains America's second-largest textbook marketeer and only approves textbooks that adhere to the specifications of the buyers with the most money, the changes occurring within state lines may affect what students all over America will be learning and promoting later on in life.

We cannot allow these changes to happen. We must have a have a hand and a voice in what is being taught to our students. Allowing the Texas School Board to enact these changes will present us as careless and nonchalant towards what exactly is happening in our schools and will provide them with the power to create and enact more changes in the school years to come.

These changes include:

1. removing Thomas Jefferson from US History and placing him in the World History curriculum
2. requiring students to compare and contrast separation of church and state to the Founding Fathers' intent when writing the First Amendment while highlighting their (Judeo-)Christian influences (based on the fact that separation of church and sate cannot be found in the Constitution)
3. referring to the United States as a constitutional republic and not a democratic
4. refusal to refer to the Constitution's prevention of the United States' promoting one religion over another
5. providing more focus to McCarthy's legacy (see McCarthyism)
6. placing more focus on the conservative moments of the 1980s and 1990s (but not about the liberal or minority movements of that time)
7. eliminating the standard of the sociology curriculum that refers to and explains the separation of sex and gender (for fear that this will lead students to learn about transsexuals, transvestites and who knows what else)
8. removal of the word capitalism in favor for the phrase free enterprise when referring to America's economic system (capitalism has a negative connotation)
9. downplaying coverage on the late Senator Edward Kennedy and Supreme Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while providing more coverage on late President Ronald Reagan
10. refusal to include the Tejanos as heroes in the Battle of the Alamo (also refused to add more prominent figures in Hispanic history)
11. downplaying the muckrakers of the 1900s by having students describe the optimism of immigrants coming to America with the works of the muckrakers (which are considered to be negative)
12. introducing eugenics (the scientific study and practice of selective breeding based on race and ethnicity) to the curriculum (next to other failed practices in America, such Prohibition and Social Darwinism. This is merely to cast a negative light on some of America's most progressive figures such as Woodrow Wilson and Margaret Sanger, who supported this practice.)
13. discussing the solvency (usefulness) of entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare
14. downplaying focus on slavery and civil rights while placing more emphasis on Biblical values and the Confederacy (along with renaming slavery as Atlantic triangular trade)

(We would like to point out that the more positive changes, such as the one made to high school graduation requirements that allowed CTE classes to count for a PE credit and the mention of Barack H. Obama, are not the ones we are targeting. Not everything passed by the TSBE was completely harmful.)

Although there are others that can be discussed, these are seen as harmful to students because they have the potential to affect how students interpret America's past (which can affect how they shape America's future) and how they will relate to the events happening in the present. Many important figures, movements and aspects of American history will be altered or even lost in the TEA's quest to write off or gloss over what they may think negative or unnecessary.

This also displays a blatant attempt to shift political focus and orientation to the right-wing, which completely cancels the balance they are claiming to fight for.

Q: How can I help?

A: Keep up with the developments. Read and follow any news; educate and inform yourself on these matters. Spread the word! Sign and link to our petition or our Facebook page through your statuses or emails. Let everyone know that what's happening in Texas could happen at any time in their state. Spreading the word will garner more support and more awareness of the details of what's going on.

Please contact either Author if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Thank you for your support!