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Texas Narrowly Rejects Allowing Academics To Fact-Check Public School Textbooks (csmonitor.com)
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."
Texas trying to out stupid Florida and winning !!!
Who's to say they won't be uber-feminists who think that some slightly pushy arm touching by drunken college boys is first-degree rape?
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
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.
Everyone knows that africans don't work.
'nuff said.
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?
Do you honestly think you'll get a less biased version from modern academia? Academics these days are so radically left-wing that your economics textbook will just swing from "capitalism is perfect" to "capitalism is responsible for all evil in the world and, also, all white heterosexual men are rapist oppressors."
On the bright side the liberals will make it free (as in someone else is paying for it)...
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?