Texas and other states should teach true American history

Textbook company McGraw-Hill Education has apologized for referring to slaves as “workers” in a textbook that is used in more than a quarter of Texas’ 1,200 school districts.

In a section about immigration the ninth-grade textbook states: “The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and the 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.”

However, it was not the state’s Board of Education, which has in the past politicized school curriculums, who noticed the ambiguous wording of the caption. It was the mother of a freshman student who brought the words to light.

In 2010, the Texas Board of Education proposed amendments that would refer to the slave trade as the “Atlantic triangular trade,” in an effort to rename slavery, and make it seem not so bad. Also, according to the Huffington Post, the members of the board also hoped that no one would notice they omitted from textbooks the name of the 44th President of the U.S.: Barack Obama, the first black President.

How could a board comprised of 15 politicians decide that the future leaders of America don’t need to know the real history of their country? In an attempt at making our country look squeaky clean, they are actively brainwashing younger generations.

Not only do these issues affect students in Texas. Many states are forced to use the Texas-revised version of books due to Texas paying the full price of all public school textbooks. So long as the books came from a list of approved companies; companies approved by the Board of Education of course.

How is Texas capable of doing such things? How is a state where people recently posted “Exclusively for white people” stickers on the doors of businesses allowed to commit such acts?

How is a state in which Sandra Bland, whose death is being investigated as a possible murder (considering she was found dead in police custody, hanging from a plastic-bag noose) allowed to execute these decisions?

It should not be possible for 15 elected officials to control what is put into textbooks, without the input of scientists, teachers or the parents of the children. If it must be legal that one state controls what children in nearly every state learn, the board that makes these decisions must consist of intellectuals, not politicians with wealthy supporters on their side.

Texas isn’t sorry for referring to slaves as “workers,” but rather Texas is sorry someone caught them in the act and took action against them. It is crucial that American textbooks teach the true history of the country and not the beliefs of a few politicians.