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Texas Narrowly Rejects Allowing Academics To Fact-Check Public School Textbooks (csmonitor.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the some-version-of-the-truth dept.

jriding writes with news that in a 8-7 vote the Texas State Board of Education rejected a plan to create a group of state university professors to fact-check textbooks approved for the state's 5.2 million public-school students. The CS Monitor reports: "The Board of Education approves textbooks in the nation's second-largest state and stood by its vetting process — despite a Houston-area mother recently complaining that a world geography book used by her son's ninth grade class referred to African slaves as 'workers.' The publisher, McGraw-Hill Education, apologized and moved to make immediate edits."

2 of 337 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Fact check or PC checking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Oh, I don't know ... because worker seems to imply they had some choice in this instead of being property.

    Maybe. Or not. Worker to others may "imply" (i.e. it actually means) someone who does work (either under duress - as in this case - or not.)

    Of course, deliberately misreading interpretations into innocuous texts seems to be a sport of certain demographics of the population. No doubt certain other demographics will be up in arms, because "'workers' in this context implies 'men'" and doesn't even begin to mention the plight of women....

    Hyperbole - you couldn't make it up.

  2. Re:Fact check or PC checking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    How about a deal, You can use "slave" with questionable ubiquity provided you have a section on all the black slave owners. You want to be genuine right? Then lets not sugar coat it. The Europeans bought those slaves from black Africans(of rival tribes). The Black plantation owners, The Irish, Asian, Native American subjugations. Sure, lets give them the truth, the WHOLE truth. That was the point you were trying to make right? Your just as pissed about the American text book coverages of the Mexican American war, Vietnam, et al right?