Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told CNN he doesn’t believe the new U.S. history textbook standards being proposed by the Texas Board of Education will impact classrooms across the country.
“Whatever Texas decides, I do not think there will be large ripple effects around the country,” Duncan said. “Textbook companies today have a real ability to customize textbooks.”
But what about schoolchildren in Texas, itself?
“Ideally, history will be lead by the historians, not by politicians,” Duncan answered.
Last year, Diane Ravitch, professor of education at NYU, told TPMMuckraker something different.
“The publishers vie to get their books adopted for them, and the changes that are inserted to please Texas and California are then part of the textbooks made available to every other state,” Ravitch said at the time.
Watch Duncan:
Eric Lach
Eric Lach is a reporter for TPM. From 2010 to 2011, he was a news writer in charge of the website’s front page. He has previously written for The Daily, NewYorker.com, GlobalPost and other publications. He can be reached at ericl(at)talkingpointsmemo.com
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