The state of Texas is proposing to adopt a curriculum for Texas public schools that includes Christian-based religious references in K-5 education.
The proposal was unveiled by the Texas Education Agency in May and the plan includes a financial incentive of at least $40 per student for school districts that adopt the proposed curriculum.
In the curriculum Christian references and readings are tucked into lessons for each grade from kindergarten to fifth grade. The references range from the Biblical stories of King David and King Solomon for kindergarteners, to learning about the Last Supper and Bible verses in fifth grade.
The SBOE will vote on the final proposed curriculum in November.
David R. Brockman of the Baker Institute wrote a report critical of the proposal "Turning Texas Public Schools into Sunday Schools? A review of the State's proposed K-5 reading Curriculum."
Brockman found the curriculum at times inaccurate and generally lacking religious balance. He writes that it too often fails to provide students with objective, neutral, nonconfessional coverage of religions necessary for a public school context, with its diverse student and teacher population.
He found that curriculum overemphasizes Christianity, offering very limited coverage or none at all of other major religions and faith traditions. It provides a one-sided portrayal of Christianity and its impact whitewash difficult historical truths. There are lessons that subtly portray Christian faith claims as straightforwardly true, opening the curriculum to the charge that it is meant to proselytize students.
And Brockman found that the authors appear to go out of their way to work detailed Bible lessons into the curriculum even when they are both unnecessary and unwarranted.
He also found numerous misleading passages, inaccuracies, and errors in the instructional materials.
He writes “Though religious freedom is vital to American democracy, the curriculum distorts its role in the nation’s founding while underplaying the importance of other fundamental liberties cherished by Americans.”
Guest:
David R. Brockman, Ph.D. is a religious studies scholar and Christian theologian. He serves as a Nonresident Scholar in Religion & Public Policy with Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He also teaches religious studies courses at Texas Christian University. His publications include No Longer the Same: Religious Others and the Liberation of Christian Theology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and Dialectical Democracy through Christian Thought: Individualism, Relationalism, and American Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). (The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy or Texas Christian University.)
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