OPINION: More debate to come on history texts

The problem is, history isn’t just facts, it’s also an interpretation of facts. And depending on whose doing the interpreting, the portrait of the past is shaded differently.

That is the nexus of a recent Texas debate where conservative state school board members pushed through a variety of changes to the state’s school history curriculum. Those changes have come under fire from liberals and some teachers who say they distort American history.

The truth is, history is always being distorted. The victor in any conflict gets to write the textbook and it’s that the version which gets told.

For the last 30 to 40 years, history textbooks have been gradually moving to the political Left in their interpretation of events. That was a reaction to the idea that history texts focused too much on the “big names” in history and didn’t focus enough on what the “common man” contributed to the historical record. In addition, the Civil Rights and feminist movements of the 1960s influenced historians to include more emphasis on how blacks and women influenced history, making the point that history wasn’t just about “dead European white men.”

Fair enough.

But as with many political movements, the effort to bring more depth to the historical record has perhaps swung the pendulum too far to the Left in some textbooks. Often very minor players whose role in history was insignificant get elevated in textbook writing, mostly in an obvious effort to be more politically correct and multi-cultural. Some of true leaders of history sometimes get down-played.

The Texas move in May was a reaction to this. In votes split along party lines, Republicans put in new teaching requirements for Texas students (and by extension Texas textbooks) that swing back toward a more nationalistic view of America.

The problem is that in attempting to correct some of the bias that the Left has injected into history textbooks, Texas Republicans have inserted their own political biases.

Whatever the direction the Texas changes take (and there’s some indication of a building backlash), this isn’t the end of the story. There are many more debates to come about the history of America.