Don't Mess With Textbooks

Okay, we can't let this go down. Texas has voted to change what is taught in textbooks, eliminating references to "The Age of Enlightenment" and Thomas Jefferson, and replacing them with the teachings of Thomas Aquinas and Creationism. They also plan to add discussions of the validity of separation of Church & State.

If the Texans were just going to be printing textbooks with omitted facts & false information so they could teach the schoolchildren of Texas a false version of history, that would be one thing, but many, many states buy their textbooks from Texas, and these Texan textbooks will effect large parts of the nation, if We, the People, don't step in and insist that they be boycotted.

Citizens will need to mobilize, to band together with other people in local communities, and research the names & contact information of the bursars on the local School Board who control the purse-strings for School Budgets, and let them know that this is unacceptable. It would be good to publicize the contact information for these Bursars, including the Names, Mailing Addresses (not Street Addresses), Phone Numbers, and Email Addresses of the Bursars, in each district's local papers, so all citizens have easy access to the information.

Letters to the Editor of your local paper are also an excellent idea. Include the address and email of the Texas Board that is making these decisions, and encourage everyone you know who might care about this issue to get involved.

Here's how to contact them:
Barbara Cargill (R)
61 W. Wedgemere Circle
The Woodlands, TX 77381
(281) 465-8095
sboesupport@tea.state.tx.us

Write to them, email them, call them and let them know that we do not support their version of history.

And there's also a Facebook Page you can Join called, "Boycott Texas Until They Correct Their Textbooks".

Here's the email that I sent to the Texas Board (I was going to start it "Dear Texas", but I'm not feeling very "endeared" towards Texas, at the moment):

SUBJECT: I am boycotting Texas, and all things that come from Texas

To Whom It May Concern ~

I will not visit your state, nor support anyone or buy anything that comes from your state, until you correct the Textbooks & put the facts that you've omitted back in, where they belong.


How dare you impose your religious beliefs on innocent schoolchildren, in a country that purports to believe in separation of Church & State? To remove that information from your future textbooks is extremely UNPATRIOTIC & UNAMERICAN. We, as Americans, believe in and stand for the ideals that you have so callously eliminated from future textbooks...the ideals that inspire our citizens to acts of greatness, selflessness, and patriotism.

We insist that you take these falsehoods, & one-sided ideologies out of your textbooks, or you can expect a massive campaign to be mounted against this move, and encouraging every single text book buyer in every single school district in every single state in our entire nation to buy their textbooks elsewhere, from companies that do not distort the truth for their own political and religious agendas.



There will be huge negative financial repercussions, & you will lose more & more contracts, if you continue down this misguided path.

Sincerely,

Tara Thralls

A Lover of Truth, & the Ideals of Democracy,
especially The Separation of Church & State