
Two States. Eight Textbooks. Two American Stories - jonbaer
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/12/us/texas-vs-california-history-textbooks.html
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SolaceQuantum
This covers two textbooks- same name, same authors, one for california and one
for texas. Some significant differences occur: California's version indicates
the second amendment opens some regulation, Texas' does not. California
mentions that white flight happened and was racially motivated, Texas said
that people merely wishes to escape 'crime and congestion' of city life. Where
California includes an excerpt from Dominican-American novel, Texas includes
the words of a Border Patrol officer.

How can we hope to resolve the greater difference in our partisian society
while also teaching different versions of the same history to our kids?

~~~
crmrc114
Which one do you pick?

I have a belief that our nation is so large and its people so vast in
difference of opinion we are technically different social nations. I would not
be able or want to live in a place like California- their laws are
incompatible with my way of life. From my firearms collection to my automotive
hobbies. Things that make me happy are illegal in California. And that is OK!

See I am happy to visit the nation of California- and will will act in their
way when I am in their land. When they come to Texas they can choose to hang
out with us and enjoy our local customs and culture.

What unites us is our common bond in the fact that we are all Americans. I may
not want to live in California, those are still my fellow countrymen and I
hope that they will find continued success in their ventures despite of
difference in ways of life.

Why does one view have to be wrong? Different strokes?

My artsy pals moved to Portland to hang with their kind in an art community.
My Alone in the woods friends who wanted to be more alone moved to remote
Idaho.

Why does anyone have to be wrong, in the end they are all just seeking
happiness and moving to where people around them share their values, culture
and belief systems.

America is a divided nation, unified by an ideology of individual liberty and
personal autonomy. I find it no surprise, nor do I see it as a problem that
our textbooks reflect this fact.

~~~
ng12
I wonder if someone could design a country such that each "social nation"
could operate largely independently and only be tied together by a tiny, weak
federal government. A "united states", perhaps.

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denverkarma
Buried in the middle of the story:

> Still, recent textbooks have come a long way from what was published in past
> decades. Both Texas and California volumes deal more bluntly with the
> cruelty of the slave trade, eschewing several myths that were common in
> textbooks for generations: that some slave owners treated enslaved people
> kindly and that African-Americans were better off enslaved than free. The
> books also devote more space to the women’s movement and balance the
> narrative of European immigration with stories of Latino and Asian
> immigrants.

> “American history is not anymore the story of great white men,” said Albert
> S. Broussard, a history professor at Texas A&M University and an author of
> both the Texas and California editions of McGraw-Hill’s textbooks.

So, in short, all the textbooks are moving toward a more multicultural
worldview and ideas traditionally associated with "the left," but California
is moving that direction faster than Texas.

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gumby
Feynman's account of his brief time on the California textbook selection
committee:
[https://rangevoting.org/FeynTexts.html](https://rangevoting.org/FeynTexts.html)

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deogeo
Writing textbooks is political, but the battle starts much earlier, already in
hiring - University of California requires all new hires to submit a political
litmus test [1]. A story which, I couldn't help but notice, the New York Times
failed to cover.

[1]
[https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/19/mathematician...](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/19/mathematician-
comes-out-against-mandatory-diversity-statements-while-others-say-they)

