AUSTIN, TEXAS— One controversial issue today is educational reform. It has become one of the main issues between Republicans and Democrats. There is an equally important educational issue looming on the horizon however, and it begins with the Texas Board of Educations recently edited social studies curriculum.

The Texas Board of Education has always pushed the limits of bias within education, with previous issues such as evolution, but this time they have gone too far. The Texas Boards revised curriculum includes several different changes. One of the most prominent, and most disturbing, is questioning the belief of “separation between church and state” as well as cutting Thomas Jefferson from the curriculum altogether because he coined the phrase.


Other changes will also be made such as replacing the word capitalism with the phrase, “free-enterprise system” and replacing the word imperialism with “expansionism”. According to Yahoo! News, there will also be a more positive light shed upon the Cold War anti-communism movement. In addition, some more odd changes will be made such as naming western and country music as some national cultural revolutions but not hip hop or rap.


Not only is it worrisome that Texas has pushed such radically conservative views into education, but the possibility that Texas may influence the rest of the country is a much bigger fear. According to the New York Times, Texas buys such a large amount of textbooks, that their curriculum alterations could possibly change what the publishers put in nationally published textbooks. To think that these kinds of views could be pushed onto the entire country is downright alarming. No longer is education being used to simply learn and acquire knowledge, but instead it is being used as a tool, to mold the future leaders of our world for ulterior motives and purposes. Each generations’ viewpoints are affected by their education, as well as the time period they grow up in, for the rest of their lives. If children receive a conservatively slanted education, then the majority of these children will have a conservative view of the world.

Everyone deserves the right to have a clear unbiased education, but in Texas, and at times, America, we obviously are not getting that choice. That choice is up to our school boards and government. America is indeed the world’s main superpower, but to stay on top we need strong leaders who have their own opinions, rather than the politicians who look only to benefit themselves and their political loyalties. A great worry right now is how our education doesn’t even measure close to the Asian countries such as China or Japan. Perhaps it is because we look too kindly upon past American history. Now is not the time for America to be so egotistical, we need to acknowledge that we have made mistakes in the past, they were wholly our fault, and America as a whole is not invincible. We are fallible, just like any other country, and it does no good to deny our flaws and weaknesses rather than fix them.