Are New Texas Public School Textbooks Whitewashing History?

One professor reviewed the state’s new history textbooks. Here’s his informed opinion.

By Rhonda FanningAugust 26, 2015 3:11 pm, , ,

Texas students will use new history textbooks starting this school year. The content guidelines — drafted last year — created a national controversy for allegedly downplaying the role of slavery in the Civil War, stressing the superiority of conservative ideals, emphasizing Republican political philosophies, and the list goes on. Texas often sets the standard for textbooks across the U.S., so it’s not just our public schools that are opening the books.

Edward Countryman is a professor at Southern Methodist University who has taught American history at the college level for more than four decades. Some of his works are used in college classrooms nationwide. He also just finished reviewing the new history textbooks, no small task; he was asked to do so by the left-leaning advocacy group, the Texas Freedom Network.

Hear what Countryman has to say in the audio player above.