Social Studies News in Brief

New Social Studies Texts Challenged in Texas

By McClatchy-Tribune — September 16, 2014 1 min read
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Four years after state board of education members clashed over history standards in Texas schools, publishers are facing criticism over new textbooks based on those changes.

The Texas Freedom Network, an education advocacy and watchdog group, set up a panel of university faculty to review the books. It found numerous errors and shortcomings. Among them: books that negatively portrayed Muslims as more prone to violence and inaccurately described religions other than Christianity.

Two texts were cited for misinformation on the constitutional requirement of separation of church and state. Another was singled out for using outdated and offensive racial terminology in describing Africans.

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A version of this article appeared in the September 17, 2014 edition of Education Week as New Social Studies Texts Challenged in Texas

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