Every article about Texas textbooks contains that sentence about how the state’s decisions dictate what students will read in classrooms around the country, by virtue of its size and pull in the publishing industry. Given the wackadoo revisions the state is making to U.S. history, I was glad to read this piece by Kate Alexander in the Austin American-Statesman and this one by Richard Fausset in the Los Angeles Times, both of which suggest—for different reasons—that that stronghold might not be as firm or lasting as we assume.
(What did not make me so happy is why none of the Big Three publishers would comment for Fausset’s piece. Why not?)
I wish that were true. But the truth is that the single most-used piece of "technology" in the classroom is the textbook--and young teachers are far more reliant on textbooks than those with more experience. The best thing about the press on the loopy things Texas is doing will be that it shines a light on all of it. I am quite sure that other states and districts will be much more careful in reviewing a textbook if they see that it was adopted in Texas. One can only hope.
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