by Dennis Aubuchon

Created on: March 17, 2010   Last Updated: March 18, 2010

Recent events surrounding the content of textbooks are ones on which all Americans need to be focused.  Today our schools are impacted by what is in or not in the textbooks being used to teach the leaders of tomorrow.  Our country was founded on certain principles and has a history which should be taught in our schools.  The current battle over content should raise concerns about how the curriculum for textbooks is determined are written and who is writing them.  The Board of Education in the state involved in the controversy has the responsibility to identify the curriculum to be included in the state textbooks.   

     Today there are efforts in several segments of society to change the words we say to be politically correct.  This is not the way textbooks have been written in the past and it is not the way they should be written in the future.  I fear the same may be true of changes to textbooks being proposed now and in the future.  Textbooks especially history textbooks which is involved in the current controversy should contain the history of our country as it happened.  This is important.  When I grew up I learned about the events that shaped our country and about the Constitution.  I learned about the rights we have as individuals and the rights the states have in establishing requirements for their citizens.  Learning about the Constitution and the principles on which our country was founded is important along with the events that have taken place that shaped who we are today.  Our constitutional values are important not only for us to remember in the current economic environment but also for students in the educational system to learn and understand them.

     Every country has events that shape them and it is wrong to remove or rewrite the events that have taken place.  Events are not always pleasant to remember but they must be told.  How they are explained can help people to understand the circumstances surrounding them.  The integrity of our educational system begins with the integrity of our textbooks.  While this decision will not be final for awhile it can change what is being taught in history books throughout the United States.  The history of our country or any country is an important element of who the citizens are and where they have come from as a country. 

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