Texas School Curriculum Changes Possible

The State Board of Education, known mostly for banning books and debating creationism, is set to scrap current reading and writing curriculums, according to the Chronicle. Many of the members of the Board (composed of fifteen elected officials) want to get rid of current standards, which focus on the student. While under the current guidelines students are encouraged to use their own life experiences, morals, and ideas to interpret texts, the new standard would be a more teacher-centric curriculum focusing on mechanics like grammar and punctuation.

The conservative proponents of the new program have been working toward their goal for several years: the plan was rejected in 1997, when the current standards were adopted. A spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, which moniters the Texas school system for bias toward the religious right, said that this fight is set to be a "big battle": while many feel it unlikely that the English curriculum will invite political discussion, the science standards, which are up for review next year. may well do so.

Though the board has less power than it used to since the Texas Legislature stripped it of some of it's powers recently, the group can still make changes such as mandating reading lists (currently considered a matter for control at the district or individual teacher level) and making standards more specific. Critics of the plan, however, claim that the new system will end up micromanaging teachers, leaving little room for individual teaching styles.