Former SBOE Chair McLeroy Still Fights Culture War
Don McLeroy recounts the saga of rejecting a math textbook like an old war story.
“The room was abuzz — I’ve never seen the room quite like that,” he says. He tells the story in an excited whisper, eyes wide and with a smile. It was 2007, and McLeroy, the chair of the State Board of Education, led a group of six other socially conservative Republicans and one conservative Democrat in rejecting a third-grade math book because, among other things, it did not teach all the multiplication tables to rote.
His telling injects a David and Goliath tone to what ...
Comments (7)
chavisada
All religions, including Christianity, should be wholly absent from any part of the public education system. They have their place and it isn't there, it's at their respective places of worship. This guy must think he is doing good by our students, and he may doing good by most, but there are people in our state that aren't christian and his idea of good policy alienates those people.
JJ Baskin
Professionally, I have worked with superintendents, school board members, principals, and teachers.
Personally and separately, I have worshiped with superintendents, school board members, principals, and teachers at weddings, funerals, holidays, baptisms, Wednesday night suppers, and Sunday morning worship as well as brises, bar mitzvahs, and bat mitzvahs.
I have yet to meet a public school superintendent, school board member, principal, or teacher that believes it is their professional responsibility to proselytize their faith in the public schools, nor do I wish to meet one. If Dr. McLeroy wishes to promote his version of his faith in his private dentistry practice, that is his right to do so, but I would thank him not to do so with my children. I am perfectly capable of providing a loving and faithful support system to my children within the framework of my faith tradition and denomination.
Consequently, like so many of those superintendents, school board members, principals, and teachers, I believe there is evolution and it can be reconciled with my faith. There may be a "far left" in other states with stronger unions, but not in Texas. If a person is at the polar opposite of Dr. McLeroy, perhaps it is his views that are far and extreme.
AustinPolitico
My view on religion in classrooms is much different than chavisada. While chavisada is scared of alienating a minority, I'm scared of some dolt of a teacher professing religious doctrine to my child. My children learn their christian morals through the bible, the Church, and myself. A public school teacher can skew facts and forget others. Religion is the parents responsibility, and if McLeroy wants to help out, allow more parental freedom in the public school systems. Also, you want to better my children through rigorous education that challenges a child; develop a more Socratic based classroom curriculum.
laraypolk
Very good interview, thank you. I found the following passage to be of special interest:
"He’s particularly vocal when it comes to the nation's founding. 'I will always come out the same because it’s true. It’s founded on biblical principles,' he says. He points to the preamble of Declaration of Independence — the 'We hold these truths' part."
The complete phrase is: "We hold these truths to be self-evident." Self-evident truth as in Descartes, Cartesian methodology and the Enlightenment. He has not convinced me that he understands the meaning of this very important wording of the Declaration of Independence nor the contributions of Descartes as it involves independent thinking.
I hope that people will continue to stay involved in issues regarding the SBOE.
terrymaxwell
Fortunately, Don cannot redefine science. It is defined by those who have practiced it since The Enlightenment. They practice methodological materialism because with it they get useful results.
Unfortunately, Don can create confusion among Texas school children, all to no good for them and our state.
physgradstudent
"...McLeroy says it amounts to an emphasis on creative and critical thinking. He hopes to return classrooms to a more traditional focus on facts and knowledge and without what he calls 'the politically correct' emphasis which he believes is hurting students."
Let's train our kids to be a completely unbiased repository of factual informtation. They''ll be just like <strike>Wikipedia<\strike> Conservapedia!
TLeBleu
What seems notably missing from this story is any facts regarding the case used as a primary example of Mr. McLeroy's agenda, namely the changes that he successfully lobbied for within the math curriculum.
McLeroy and the author noted that the standard for changing a textbook "for not meeting the Essential Knowledge and Skills requirements, for lacking physical requirements like a strong binding or if it has factual errors." Before launching into an innuendo-ridden story depicting Mr. McLeroy as an unreasonable Christian zealot, which was evidently the underlying purpose of the story, why did Mrs. Rapoport opt not to at least provide some of the facts of the case which he won?
The implication is that the changes to the math textbooks/curriculum were unreasonable, driven by a desire for moral rectitude or religious dogma, or some other such scary reason. Put aside the stretch that is required to envision changes to a math curriculum as being somehow tied in any relevant fashion to religious education, the bigger question is why were the facts of this case left as an implication? Is it not the job of a reporter to provide some context around this story beyond the religious and political beliefs of the antagonist? I suspect there would not be such a viable lede for this story if in fact the changes were an expectation for students to know their multiplication at a certain age or make sure that algebraic problem-solving techniques were tested via problems rather than essays. Most parents, even enlightened progressive ones, would probably not have an issue and would welcome something which would increase the standards of their children's math education.
The strawman behind this story is pretty clear--scary conservatives are trying to win the "culture war" and are one step away from abolishing Darwin from the classroom. The story was certainly written to confirm this notion. But if the story can not even delve into the main facts regarding the victory Mr. McLeroy won it can hardly be considered balanced journalism.