The Texas board of directors votes to eliminate Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller from the history program

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AUSTIN, Texas >> The Texas history program remembers the Alamo but may soon forget Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller.

As part of an effort to "streamline" the social studies curriculum in Texas, the National Board of Education voted today to change what students of all ages will do. levels need to learn in class. They voted to remove several historical personalities, including Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller.

The council also voted in favor of the return to the program of a reference to the "heroism" of the defenders of the Alamo, which had been recommended for its elimination, as well as Moses' influence on the drafting of the founding documents. . -Christian "values ​​and a requirement that students explain how the" Arab rejection of the state of Israel has led to ongoing conflict "in the Middle East.

The vote of today was preliminary. The council, which is elected to represent the geographical areas, will take a final vote on these program changes in November and may make further amendments before that date.

The Dallas Morning News contacted the 15 members of the State Board of Education for comments on the Clinton and Keller delistings. Barbara Cargill, a Houston Republican and former chairman of the board, responded, "The recommendation to eliminate Helen Keller and Hillary Clinton was formulated by working groups (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). However, the council voted to accept the recommendations of the working groups. When talking to teachers and testers, they did not mention these specific deletions. "

High school students were asked to learn more about Clinton, who was the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major political party in history. She was included in the program in a section on citizenship, where students were asked to "rate the contributions of important political and social leaders in the United States," including Andrew Carnegie, Thurgood Marshall, and Sandra Day O'Connor.

Barry Goldwater has also been removed from this educational requirement. A working group on rationalization has recommended evicting the American evangelist and Baptist pastor Billy Graham, but the state council added him earlier this week.

Third year social studies teachers were also required to educate children about the life of Keller, who, despite being deaf and blind, went on to university and university studies. an active life. But Keller did not reduce the size of the task force and students from other classes are not forced to learn more about his life.

Removing these numbers from the program would not mean that teachers are forbidden to teach them, but they will no longer have to do so.

So why did Clinton, Keller and dozens of other historical personalities fail?

The News spoke with two teachers who served on a group of volunteers who made these recommendations to the board. Both said that the state required students to learn too many historical figures, so that children resort to rote memorizing of dates and names instead of real learning.

This 15-member working group has developed a rubric for assessing each historical figure to determine who is "essential" to learn and who is not. They asked questions such as: Has the person triggered a decisive change? Did the person belong to an under-represented group? Will their impact withstand the test of time?

On 20 points, Keller scored a 7. On 21 points, Clinton scored a 5. The elimination of Clinton's requirements will allow teachers to save 30 minutes of instruction time, the group of Estimated work and the elimination of Keller will save 40 minutes.

In contrast, local members of the Texas Legislature (who teach in grade four) scored perfect, as did Barbara Jordan, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, and Henry B. Gonzalez. President Donald Trump is not listed by name, but students need to know the current president, governor and mayor.

Earlier this year, the working group split up and each of them brought together a group of personalities using the rubric, according to the two teachers, who both said they wanted to exclude decisions.

"There were hundreds of people," said children Misty Matthews, teacher at Round Rock. "Our task was to simplify. … We tried to make it as objective as possible.

Jana Poth added that the task force "does not want to offend anyone" with its choices, "but there are too many people".

Third graders, for example, must learn about three dozen people. Grade 4 students are expected to learn about 69 and in Grade 8, when students take the STAAR Social Science Test, they must learn about 50 historical characters.

Neither Poth nor Matthews said they were part of the small group that made the decisions regarding Clinton and Keller. In a note accompanying the removal of the 3rd year social studies program, where Keller is included in a lesson on "the characteristics of civility", the task force wrote: "Helen Keller does not represent better the concept of citizenship. The military and first responders are the best represented.

There was no comment beside the recommendation to remove Clinton. Students in this class still need to learn about the removal of former President Bill Clinton.

Speaker of the House Democratic Caucus Chris Turner urged the council to reject the deletions at their November meeting.

"If Helen Keller was an important historical figure when I was in school (and she was there), she still is today," tweeted Turner, D -Grand Prairie. "Clinton is the first and only woman to be the presidential candidate of a major party in the history of the United States. Enough said. "

Working groups were set up to review each class's curriculum and to suggest ways to streamline it. These groups, made up of volunteers appointed by the Council of State, made dozens of recommendations. The board accepted many of the changes and rejected some of them.

Here are some of the changes that the board has approved today:

Grade 1

Replace San Jacinto Day with the day of incorporation in a section on "The Origins of Customs, Holidays, and Community, State, and Nation Celebrations."

3rd year

Remove Helen Keller from the Citizenship section.

Level 4

Remove Poteet Strawberry Festival from a section on "The Customs, Celebrations and Traditions of Various Cultural, Regional and Local Groups in Texas".

Delete the phrase "for example, hold public servants in their place", by requiring students to learn "how individuals can participate voluntarily in civic affairs at the state and local levels".

Level 5

Modify the section on civil war to recognize "the central role of the expansion of slavery in the civil war and other factors, including sectionalism and the rights of states."

7th year

Reinstate the requirement to learn the letter William B. Travis and the reference to "the heroism of various defenders who gave their lives" to Alamo. (The working group recommended cutting it.)

US Government (High School)

The working group recommended deleting them, but the council will vote to reinstate them.

Reinsert references to "Judeo-Christian (especially biblical law)" in the section on "The main intellectual, philosophical, political, and religious traditions that informed the American foundation."

Reinsert Moses' biblical figure and remove Thomas Hobbes from the section on "Individuals whose principles of law and government institutions have informed the American foundation."

History of the world (high school)

The working group recommended deleting them, but the council will vote to reinstate them.

Reinsert the reference to "German invasions of Poland and the Soviet Union, to the Holocaust, to the attack on Pearl Harbor, to the Normandy landing and the dropping of atomic bombs" in the section "Main causes and events of the Second World War". "Japanese imperialism" from this list.

Reinserting "Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict" in the section on "The rise of independence movements in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia and the reasons for ongoing conflicts" ".

Reintroduce the reference to "Judeo-Christian legal tradition" in the section "The development of a democratic and republican government since its inception".

The American history of 1877 (high school)

Delete the phrase "describe the optimism of the many immigrants who were looking for a better life in America" ​​in the section "Analyze the social problems affecting women, minorities, children, immigrants and urbanization".

Reinsert the reference to "eugenics" in the section "Causes and effects of events and social issues such as immigration, social Darwinism, the Scopes trial, race relations, nativism, red fear , the ban on women.

Add Dolores Huerta to the section on "Major Leaders Who Supported Various Rights Movements, Including Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez" and more.

Remove Hillary Clinton from a section on "Contributions of Important Political and Social Leaders in the United States Such as Andrew Carnegie, Marshall Thurgood, Billy Graham" and more.