January 28, 2011

Teaching Our Children What it Means to be an American in 2011?!

Thank you Donna for the invitation; this is a real privilege and honor for me to address all of
you today.

I. Introduction

Early last week, the Dallas Morning News reported that an affluent North Dallas school
district was offering a series of teacher development workshops on the nuts and bolts of
English grammar. A young teacher stated that “we are a generation where grammar was not
a focus in our education; we can use a refresher.”

What's wrong with this story? What‟s wrong is that our teachers do not know grammar!
What were these young teachers taught in their college education courses?
And more importantly, what have our children been learning about English these past twenty
or more years?

What's right with this story? The teachers and hopefully the students are finally learning
grammar.
The key question is: Why now? What happened to motivate these schools and teachers to
learn grammar?

Now think about American history.

What have our young history teachers been taught in their University training?

Too many of them have probably been taught what Ezra Klein of the Washington Post was
taught. When asked if the reading the Constitution in the House is a gimmick, said:
“Yes, it's a gimmick. I mean, you can say two things about it. One is that it has
no binding power on anything. And two, the issue of the Constitution is … that
the text is confusing because it was written more than 100 years ago

Do you think our teachers could use some “refresher” workshops on history?

II. The Texas State Board Of Education

I have just completed 12 years of service on the Texas State Board of Education. Over the
past three years, our state board has rewritten the curriculum standards in English, science
and history. We have bequeathed a precious legacy to Texas public education. Strong
academic standards are now in place that will improve academic achievement, prepare our
children for the future and help develop well-informed citizens.

To understand the significance of what was accomplished in Texas, you need a quick primer
on why standards are so important. Today‟s education reform efforts are best described as
Standards-Based Reform. Standards-Based Reform consist of four elements: (1) the

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

standards, (2) instructional materials based on those standards, (3) assessment tests to see if
the children know the standards, and (4) accountability ratings to determine how well a
school‟s students meet those standards. As you can see, the key word is standards; where the
standards go, education goes. Under Standards-Based Reform the most important questions
are “What are the standards?” And in Texas, it is the State Board of Education that
determines the standards.

And, the best news is that for these three years, our state board has been blessed with seven
solid religious conservatives.

III. The Battle

This battle is ideological; it's between "the left" and religious conservatives, and the left-right
divide of our country runs right down the middle of public education.

According to the conventional wisdom of today's left-leaning intellectuals, any religious

conservative involved in politics is up to no good. To them, we are dumb, callous and racist;
any proposals we offer must be bad and self-serving. Without thought, they ignore our
arguments and with smug arrogance they claim the moral high ground of caring and
compassion.

But for conventional wisdom of yesterday‟s founding fathers, the exact opposite was true.
Those political giants of the founding era were ethical monotheists; they believed in an
omnipotent God who cared about right and wrong. Today, they would be labeled religious
conservatives. This is easily demonstrated by the fact that today's left-leaning intellectuals
have the same regard for our founding fathers as they do for us.

The fundamental principles that the founders believed in, we believe in. Since conventional
wisdom can change, we must change it back. Our hope is the children of today. They will be
the future intellectuals of tomorrow. We must provide them with a “founding father”
education. Henry Grady Weaver described it in The Mainspring of Human Progress:
“Before he was sixteen, the philosophy and history of the entire European past
had been pounded into his head. Thus when he was old enough to begin
thinking things out for himself, he had in his own mind a storehouse of
knowledge, covering thousands of years of human experience. Also he was
drilled in logic and the accurate meaning of words as a protection against
fallacies of fancy rhetoric!”

To get education right, you have to leave “the left” behind; to adopt sound education policy
one must overcome the irrational opposition of the left. Our ultimate objective is to actually
make a difference; therefore, we need tangible results. This job is not easy as our opponents
in the media and academia don‟t listen to us. They don't trust us; they feel threatened by us. I
have been especially amazed by the aloof arrogance of the major newspaper editorial boards.

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

IV. The Science Battle

In March 2009, we adopted our new science standards. Despite all the hysteria and fears of
evolutionary dogmatists, there has not been one challenge to any of the new standards. The
American Academy for the Advancement of Science‟s journal Science reported that “New
science standards for Texas schools strike a major blow to the teaching of evolution…" And,
they are right.

The controversy over science standards was actually the result of an attempted hijacking of
science for ideological purposes by evolutionists. Their agenda was much more about
worldviews than biology. Our new standards reflect real science and challenge students to
study some of evolution's most glaring weaknesses in explaining the fossil record and the
complexity of the cell.

Board detractors still misrepresent the science standards. They should heed the warning of
Richard Feynman, famed physicist, who in an important speech on scientific integrity stated
"the idea is to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your
contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or
another." Mission accomplished. Integrity restored.

It is absolutely critical that our children learn what real science is because science has
become “the left‟s” big hammer for getting their way. Shortly before November‟s elections,
President Obama said that in today‟s politics: (1) facts, (2) science, and (3) argument do not
"win the day" anymore, and that we cannot think clearly because we are scared. In other
words, the leftists were losing because the American people are too dumb to accept what the
left calls facts and we were to dumb to bow down to the altar of what the left calls science.

It was science that U. S. District Judge Vaughn Walker used as justification to reject
thousands of years of human experience and wisdom as he single-handedly and arbitrarily
overturned California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He cited evidence that
“studies show” that two of the same gender can raise well-adjusted kids. This blind
acceptance of what “science says” undermines our ability to think; we just need to accept
what the “studies show”.

This is why our victory in the science standard‟s debate that restored scientific integrity is so
important. It will help our children understand what real science is and its proper role in
society; it will help prevent “science abuse” of the left.

V. The History Battle

After this victory in science, the board proceeded to adopt new history standards. The battle
over evolution had received national attention, but it was nothing compared to the attention
focused on Texas as we stood up for true American history.

For a free society, history is everything. Thus, the greatest problem facing America today is
that we have forgotten what it means to be an American. On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

charted the course for a new nation: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

Interestingly, it is here in the Declaration of Independence that we can clearly establish that
our nation was founded on biblical not secular principles. Secularism says there is no truth,
there is no God and that we just evolved. The Declaration clearly states that truth exists, there
is a Creator and that we are created.

Four score and seven years later, Abraham Lincoln declared that we were “a new nation,
conceived in Liberty” and “the last best hope of earth.”

Ten score and five years after the Declaration, Ronald Reagan observed: “Freedom and the
dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than any other place on
earth.”

The theme is freedom. These men understood America and the principles upon which she
stood: self-evident truths; liberty, with its twin corollaries of limited government and
individual responsibility; the embrace of Judeo-Christian values; and “a firm reliance on the
protection of divine Providence.”

Every one of these founding principles is undermined by a philosophical foundation of

evolution. What our students learn of history is filtered through how they understand
science. Our science and history battles were remarkably similar; we faced the same
opponents—the left—and fought over the same philosophical issues. Thus, science and
history are a lot more correlated than you might think. It is noteworthy that Darwin published
the Origin of the Species eighty-three years after the Declaration. Providentially, our
founding fathers were not intellectually crippled by an evolutionary worldview. Today in
Texas, our children do not have to be crippled either.

The changes we adopted attracted national attention because they challenged the powerful
ideology of the left and highlighted the great political divide of our country. The left‟s
principles are diametrically opposed to our founding principles. The left believes in big, not
limited, government; they empower the state, not the individual; they focus on differences,
not unity.

This divide was clearly exposed on March 23, 2010 as the left celebrated health reform that
Vice President Biden said “charts a fundamentally different course for the country” — an
unmistakable rejection of Jefferson‟s original course. But the Texas board, emulating
Jefferson, adopted standards to ensure that our children understand how free societies rose to
greatness and how they can fall. Education is the last best hope for the last best hope of earth.

VI. The Story of Bill Ames

A good way to explain how this happened is to tell you the story of a man named Bill Ames.
Back in our 2002 history textbook adoption process, he worked with the publisher on a single

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

US history book and helped convince them to make some amazing changes. Let me just
share one with you right now.

It concerns the book‟s coverage of the D-Day invasion. As presented for adoption, the title at
the top of the page stated "Nightmare at Omaha"; an excerpt from the text stated "that at
Omaha Beach between Utah and Gold, the landing of the US 1st Infantry Division threatened
to turn into what American General Omar Bradley feared was an „irreversible catastrophe.‟”

But, the publisher agreed to changes suggested by Mr. Ames. In the book that is now in
Texas classrooms, the title at the top of the page now reads "A Day for Heroes" not
“Nightmare at Omaha.” And the students are given a different quote from Omar Bradley; it
reads "although many died, the Americans took control of the beach and fought their way
inland. As General Omar Bradley later wrote "every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that
day was a hero.”

Mr. Ames realized that, while he made a major, positive impact in a single book, the biggest
impact could be made by influencing the curriculum standards that all of books must cover. I
was able to appoint him to our US history review committee. There he was one among
eight—the only conservative on the panel. This committee first met in February 2009; our
new history standards were adopted 16 months later. He worked tirelessly. Even though he
was consistently out-voted in his committee, in November 2009, he wrote confidently:
In the January State Board of Education meeting, item-by-item, motions
will be made and passed to accept the changes. Gradually the standards
will be transformed into a document will make Texas students proud to
be Americans….The process will be the history revisionists’ worst
nightmare….How can one be so confident of the outcome? Because the
SBOE seems able to win every curriculum battle. The left always loses
in Texas.

The only thing he got wrong was the date. Because of the volume of amendments written
and submitted by many concerned Texans, including Bill Ames, the board did not complete
its work until May 2010.

VII. The New History Standards—In General

As you can guess, the left doesn't like our new history standards. The Dallas Morning News
editorial board, just a few weeks ago, stated that the top priority for our State Board in 2011
should be to revise the standards. They stated: "The standards were so controversial that they
sparked protest in Texas and around the country… Among the bizarre revisions: the board
super-conservatives insisted on making Joe McCarthy look as if he was onto something
about communist infiltration….” It sounds like they need to go back to college. I‟m sorry, it
sounds like they have been to college.

What were the standards like before they were “transformed” by the conservatives?
Individually, the left's standards do not seem so bad; but taken as a whole they paint a
negative view of America; they have an overemphasis of multicultural issues; they are

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

obsessed with the differences of race, class and gender; thus, they turn America into “E
Unum Pluribus”—“out of one many” instead of “E Pluribus Unum”—“out of many one.”
And, most importantly, they ignore the Judeo-Christian contribution to Western civilization
and they ignore the contribution of the free enterprise system.

Again, for a free society, history is everything. Thus, it is imperative that we teach our
children what it means to be an American. It is also imperative that we attend conferences
such as you have here in St. Louis. Five of the key conservatives on our board attended this
conference several years ago. I can guarantee you that what we learned here helped
contribute to the success we experienced last May. At that conference, William B. Allen of
Michigan State, in a memorable address stated:
"The founding era and the founding fathers are not just a topic of
instruction for us; it is most important first to understand, that they are
the meat we feed upon. Understanding it means that we cannot accept,
in any instance, the argument that they are inaccessible to us (Did you
hear that Ezra Klein?) any ore than we can accept the argument that we
can live without our hearts. Therefore, our task is not to ask whether we
should regard the founders with tender care and understanding; our task
is to find the means to do so."

The good news is that in Texas we are finding "the means to do so". We adopted explicit
requirements that our children be taught our founding documents, American Exceptionalism,
and our national mottos of "In God We Trust", and "E Pluribus Unum."

One of our most significant new standards brings some much needed clarity to the commonly
misunderstood phrase "separation of church and state."

The left, in its attempts to remove God and religion from our society have twisted the clear
meaning of the First Amendment‟s protection of religious liberty. It's time to clear up the
confusion about where we find the phrase "separation of church and state." The answer is
simple; it is in our new history standards; it is in there so that our children will know that it is
not in the Constitution. Ironically, the very language in our Constitution to guarantee us
religious liberty has been used to deny us that freedom. The Constitution codified for us
what Christianity, through the "Great Awakening", had already given to our country—the
disestablishment of religion. It was as Wesley and Whitefield traveled up and down and
across established church boundaries that Christianity disestablished itself.

What we have in America, in the Constitution, is not the “separation of church and state”;
what we have is the disestablishment of religion.

I am excited that David Brog is speaking tomorrow. In his recent book In Defense of Faith,
he convincingly describes how the left‟s attempts to purge religion from our society would
purge the moral high ground from where they preach. The source for the moral power on
which the foundation of our country is based is the radical Judeo-Christian idea that all men
are created in the image of God. Our whole idea of liberty, of the Declaration‟s "all men are
created equal", and of the importance of the individual is grounded in this great truth. The
left, who rejects this biblical principle but stand on its foundation, pat themselves on the back

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

and claim to stand for compassion and caring. But, how compassionate and caring is it to
take a young child, a self-governing creature of God, and tell him he is the product of blind
purposeless processes and just a helpless victim—totally dependent upon the state?

It is the conservatives who stand on the moral high ground. We must not concede
“compassion and caring” to the left. It is our policies that favor human flourishing.

The free enterprise system is the dominant economic theme of our new history standards; it is
also built upon the radical Judeo-Christian idea that man is created in the image of God. This
idea has led to limited government—what Dennis Prager refers to as: the bigger the
individual, the smaller the government—and to the development of personal responsibility.
The free enterprise system makes better people. The free enterprise system rewards hard
work, diligence and competence; it punishes laziness, cheating and freeloading. Our new
history standards teach the benefits of free enterprise; they highlight the failures of planned
economies.

Contrast this with what the left has taught our children in our universities about free
enterprise. Think of what they must have taught Goodwin Liu, President Obama‟s nominee
to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a young. Mr. Liu, commenting on the nomination of
Chief Justice John Roberts, stated that "free enterprise, private ownership of property and
limited government" are "code words" for a hostile ideological agenda. To Mr. Liu, these
principles we cherish are not even real! What kind of mind marginalizes, trivializes, and
ignores these great ideas that have made America exceptional? It is the leftist mind. It is a
mind that struggles to marshal a true argument and discredits their opponents with insults and
personal attacks. And, it is a mind that has not been taught real science and real history.

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

VIII. The New History Standards—Specific

8th Grade US History

In eighth grade US history we kept the requirement that students "(C) describe how
religion and virtue contributed to the growth of representative government in the
American colonies..."

Comment: Interestingly, the younger teachers in the eighth grade writing team were the
were insisting that this be removed; the elder teachers on the panel and state board members
insisted that it stay. Again, what are they teaching our children in our universities?

High School US History

Comment: I used to think that the strategic area of focus for teaching U S History was the
founding era and that the latter history was secondary. I was wrong. The modern era is just
as significant as the amazing founding era. To understand how today’s political leaders can
so easily dismantle the momentous work of our founders’ gives ample opportunity to teach
our children what it means to be an American.

(1) History. The student understands the principles included in the Celebrate
Freedom Week program. The student is expected to:

(A) analyze and evaluate the text, intent, meaning, and importance of the
Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of
Rights, and identify the full text of the first three paragraphs of the
Declaration of Independence;

(B) analyze and evaluate the application of these founding principles to

historical events in U.S. history; and

(C) explain the contributions of the Founding Fathers such as Benjamin

Rush, John Hancock, John Jay, John Witherspoon, John Peter
Muhlenberg, Charles Carroll, and Jonathan Trumbull Sr.

(4) History. The student understands the emergence of the United States as a world
power between 1898 and 1920. The student is expected to:

(B) evaluate American expansionism, including acquisitions such as Guam,

Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico;

Comment: The review committee wanted to insert “imperialism” The standards currently us
the word “expansionism”.

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

(6) History. The student understands significant events, social issues, and individuals
of the 1920s. The student is expected to:

(A) analyze causes and effects of events and social issues such as
immigration, Social Darwinism, eugenics, race relations, nativism, the Red
Scare, Prohibition, and the changing role of women; and

Comment: Ask John West about this one.

(8) History. The student understands the impact of significant national and
international decisions and conflicts in the Cold War on the United States. The
student is expected to:

(B) describe how Cold War tensions were intensified by the arms race, the
space race, McCarthyism, and the House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC), the findings of which were confirmed by the Venona Papers;

Comment: We touched the Holy Grail of leftism with this one!

(9) History. The student understands the impact of the American civil rights
movement. The student is expected to:

(D) compare and contrast the approach taken by some civil rights groups
such as the Black Panthers with the nonviolent approach of Martin Luther
King Jr.;

(F) describe presidential actions and congressional votes to address minority

rights in the United States, including desegregation of the armed forces, the
Civil Rights acts of 1957 and 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965;

Comment: Historians love to omit this one. It doesn’t fit the modern myth that Republicans
are racist.

(10) History. The student understands the impact of political, economic, and social
factors in the U.S. role in the world from the 1970s through 1990. The student is
expected to:

(E) describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the
conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly,
the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and
the National Rifle Association; and

Comment: Provides balance to al the requirement to learn about the Progressive era, the
New Deal, and Great Society.

(15) Economics. The student understands domestic and foreign issues related to U.S.
economic growth from the 1870s to 1920. The student is expected to:

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

(E) describe the emergence of monetary policy in the United States,

including the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and the shifting trend from a gold
standard to fiat money.

(16) Economics. The student understands significant economic developments

between World War I and World War II. The student is expected to:

(B) identify the causes of the Great Depression, including the impact of
tariffs on world trade, stock market speculation, bank failures, and the
monetary policy of the Federal Reserve System;

(19) Government. The student understands changes over time in the role of
government. The student is expected to:

(E) evaluate the pros and cons of U.S. participation in international

organizations and treaties.

(22) Citizenship. The student understands the concept of American

exceptionalism. The student is expected to:

(A) discuss Alexis de Tocqueville's five values crucial to America's

success as a constitutional republic: liberty, egalitarianism, individualism,
populism, and laissez-faire;

(B) describe how the American values identified by Alexis de Tocqueville

are different and unique from those of other nations; and

(C) describe U.S. citizens as people from numerous places throughout the
world who hold a common bond in standing for certain self-evident
truths.

(26) Culture. The student understands how people from various groups contribute to
our national identity. The student is expected to:

(E) discuss the meaning and historical significance of the mottos "E Pluribus
Unum" and "In God We Trust";

World History

(3) History. The student understands the contributions and influence of classical
civilizations from 500 BC to AD 600 on subsequent civilizations. The student is
expected to:

Comment: BC and AD are not typos.

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

(A) describe the major political, religious/philosophical, and cultural

influences of Persia, India, China, Israel, Greece, and Rome, including the
development of monotheism, Judaism, and Christianity;

(13) History. The student understands the impact of major events associated with the
Cold War and independence movements. The student is expected to:

(F) explain how Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing
conflict.

Comment: Can you imagine the Bush or Obama administration approving this one? When
asked to speak to my amendment, all I said was “It is the truth.” It was approved without
debate. I was even interviewed by Al Jazeera English for a 8 minute segment that they ran
last year. Interestingly, they did not even ask me about it. At first, I thought that maybe they
did not know about it, but they did. Makes me wonder why they ignored it. Why bring out the
truth?

(14) History. The student understands the development of radical Islamic

fundamentalism and the subsequent use of terrorism by some of its adherents. The
student is expected to:

(A) summarize the development and impact of radical Islamic

fundamentalism on events in the second half of the 20th century, including
Palestinian terrorism and the growth of al Qaeda; and

(18) Economics. The student understands the historical origins of contemporary

economic systems and the benefits of free enterprise in world history. The student is
expected to:

(A) identify the historical origins and characteristics of the free enterprise
system, including the contributions of Adam Smith, especially the influence of
his ideas found in The Wealth of Nations;

(E) explain why communist command economies collapsed in competition

with free market economies at the end of the 20th century; and

Comment: Our economic standards bring much need clarity to free enterprise and
communism.

(21) Citizenship. The student understands the significance of political choices and
decisions made by individuals, groups, and nations throughout history. The student is
expected to:

(C) identify examples of key persons who were successful in shifting

political thought, including William Wilberforce.

Comment: Wilberforce has his own standard. He is not just one of a long list!

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011

Government

(7) Government. The student understands the American beliefs and principles
reflected in the U.S. Constitution and why these are significant. The student is
expected to:

(G) examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in
America and guaranteed its free exercise by saying that "Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof," and compare and contrast this to the phrase, "separation of church
and state."

Comment: The left kept asking “Where is the separation of church and state in your
standards? So we put it in for them. Now they clam we are undermining religious freedom.
As the Dallas News puts it: We “are casting doubt on whether the separation of church and
state has been a good thing for the country.” What we are actually doing is shining light on
our Constitution.

IX. World Civilizations—Peter Stearns

The State Board has also shined the light of truth on world history; we recently passed a
resolution for fairness and accuracy in regard to the coverage of world religions. For
example, one world history book, as presented for adoption, was filled with bias about our
Judeo-Christian heritage. Two of the greatest turning points in world history are the Jewish
revelation of an omnipotent God that cares about right and wrong—ethical monotheism—
and the Christian Christmas story of the Incarnation. So, how biased is a world history book
that does not mention Judaism or Christianity in its Table of Contents, while Islam is cited 26
times? And, how can the origin of Christianity not even be mentioned in the introductory
comments of relevant divisions and chapters of the book? Also, consider the following:

1. Cover
2. Table of Contents
3. Major Introductory Sections
4. Inequality As the Social
Norm
5. The Two Relevant Chapter
Introductions
6. Church Founding Father
Quote
7. Christianity and Women
8. Islam and Women
9. Islam and Christianity
Muslim
Islam or Muslim—26, Christianity—1, Judaism--0
No mention of Judaism, No mention of Christianity
No Mention of Judaism or Christianity
No mention of Christianity
One church father, denying the validity of human thought,
simply stated, "I believe because it is absurd."
Christianity did not create equality among men and women,
but it did preach the equal importance of male and female
souls.
The Prophet‟s teaching proclaimed the equality of men and
women before God and in Islamic worship.
They lived in a manner that would prepare them for the last

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
 January 28, 2011
10. Islam and converts
11. The sources of vitality in the
postclassical West
12. The rise of the West
13. Americans and children
14. William Wilberforce
15. The American Revolution
Comment: The publisher made changes to all of these statements.
Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com
judgment, which in Islam, as in Christianity, would
determine their fate in eternity.
…Islam won converts overwhelmingly through peaceful
contacts between long-distance traders…
Because Islam was adopted rather than imposed, those who
converted had a good deal to say about…
By arguing that humankind is superior to the animal world—
made in God's image—the new religion encourage medieval
people toward a less reverent, more utilitarian view of nature
as something to be exploited. It prepared medieval
Europeans receptivity to new technologies that would subdue
nature. More specifically, Christian interest in bells, for use
in church celebrations, stimulated medieval interest in
metalworking, with results that were applied to gun making
by the 15th century.
No credit given Christianity.
The new Americans did have an unusual concern for
children, if only because they depended so heavily on their
work in a labor scarce environment.
under the leadership of religious humanitarians, such as John
Wesley and William Wilberforce, and abolitionist movement
gained strength…
No mention of George Washington or any other founding
father.
 January 28, 2011

Conclusion

This last September, the magazine Foreign Policy ran a story entitled “The World's Worst
Textbooks". Of course, the desire to avoid being ethnocentric meant they had to include some
United States texts. Guess what they included? Texas history standards, of course. And what
standards did they highlight? They were: "Explain how Arab rejection of the state of Israel has
led to ongoing conflict." And "Evaluate efforts by global organizations to undermine US
sovereignty." This is good; this means a lot of different people are taking notice. The debate
over our standards is a good debate to have. In a real debate, we win. The best problem with
leftism is that if they really understand a Conservative very well, they will become a
conservative.

I began my talk discussing a Dallas Morning News story about how school districts are
teaching their teachers grammar. The story even says the teachers are learning "the details of
sentence diagramming." Did you ever think you would live to see the day that diagramming
sentences would be taught again? In the introduction, I asked a question that I never did
answer. The question was: "Why now? What has happened to motivate these schools and
teachers to learn grammar?"

The answer was also in the story. The story says:

In 2008, the state board rejected the recommendation of a professional
educators' coalition that said grammar is best taught as part of the process of
teaching writing. Instead, the board voted to return in part to an earlier model
that includes specific grammar instruction at specific grade levels.

That vote left the Texas Education Agency and every school district in the state
scrambling to figure out how to meet the revised guidelines.

That vote was two and a half years ago and now our Texas children are learning
grammar. It takes time, but the pendulum has swung. The new science standards are
being taught today and next year our new history standards enter the classroom. I look
forward to reading more news stories about teacher workshops in both science and
history and how school districts are “scrambling to figure out how to meet the revised
guidelines.”

I would say that the odds that our new history standards will help teach our children what it
means to be an American are pretty good. This past year, America awoke from a long
hibernation of complacency. Mainstream America wants their children to know about what
it means to be an American. When our students learn English like it used to taught, when the
dogmatic teaching of evolution is not undermining the founding principles of our country,
and when our children‟s minds are filled with a great storehouse of knowledge of Western
Civilization, then maybe “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and
that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Link to development process documents. http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=3643

Link to final standards. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter113/index.html

Don McLeroy, P.O. Box 2614, Bryan, Texas 77805, 979-255-2538, donmcleroy@gmail.com