The article below illustrates one of the largest issues that is looming around the United States. The problem; how to deal with separation between church and state. Now the problem was not that status quo. Separation prior to last year was perfectly fine. Public schools were legal bound not to pressure any religion on students, and up hold a civic duty to provide fair and balanced education.
That has changed, due to the ignorance and spite of the state of Texas.
If you don't know, the state of Texas reportedly "voted to enact new teaching standards for history and social studies that will alter which material gets included in school textbooks. It decided to drop Jefferson from a world history section devoted to great political thinkers". Why you ask? Because Jefferson was a proponent of the separation between church of state.
Excluding Thomas Jefferson from the history of the United States is a crime. Not only does it rob students of a full education, but it also inhibits them from learning about a true American hero who had just as much to do with the shape of our country than any other person.
The problem is not just isolated in Texas. Serving 4.7 million students, Texas accounts for a large percentage of the textbook market. These new standards may influence other states, to follow suit.
One of our country's greatest attributes is the freedom to practice any religion we choose. We can attend school with out the pressures of officials trying to press their beliefs onto mine. I cherish these as I do not conform with many of the religious the beliefs that have huge influence on society. By law, I can practice and believe what I choose. I intend to keep it this way.
Therefore, what Texas is doing is an absolute crime and immediate federal intervention should be enabled.
I think that this is really interesting because it seems as if Texas is doing something completely illegal. When I read this post, I immediately thought about China and how their government has full control over the press as well as what is published in school textbooks. How is this fair? As Jake stated, Thomas Jefferson was one of the most prominent man in the history of the United States, and removing him from a textbook due to his views on church and state is preposterous. If the state of Texas were to go through each historian and check what their views were on every social issue, the history textbooks would be full of nice, blank white pages. Removing a huge component of our nation's history because of his personal beliefs is a sin and is taking away from the education of the children of Texas. In my opinion, this is a law that needs to be changed for the benefit of the entire state.
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