The Texas Board of Education voted on Friday to make many substantial changes in the Texas school system’s social studies curriculum.
I support many of these changes.
Students will be taught that the U.S. is a “constitutional republic” rather than “democratic.” This is correct. Students should learn about the ways in which the Founding Fathers endeavored tirelessly to curb democracy in America, setting up a republican system to prevent majorities from enacting their will. Students should learn about The Federalist #10. They should learn about property restrictions that limited voting rights to the wealthy. They should learn about the debates at the Constitutional Convention, particularly the discussion about the structure of the Senate, which was, as James Madison asserted, designed to be less democratic than the House, representing the “minority of the opulent.” The Founding Fathers created the legislative branch this way because they feared that too much democracy would lead to wealth redistribution. Students should, in fact, learn that the best way to prevent wealth redistribution is to limit democracy.
The new curriculum will also highlight the religious beliefs of our Founding Fathers. This subject will be particularly useful for our students. They should learn about the extremely oppressive nature the early American colonies. They should learn about the many Quakers who were executed as a result. Students should also learn about the incompatibility of Christian beliefs and security strategy. For example, students should learn about how 18th century Pennsylvania Quakers could not hold onto political power after, guided by Christian notions of pacifism, they refused to defend their citizens from Native American raids, allowing thousands to die on their watch. The Pennsylvania Quakers’ fall from power paved the way the more secular Benjamin Franklin, who scrapped the notion that political leaders could be pacifists. Textbooks should trace this trend throughout American history, highlighting Dean Acheson’s statement that the Golden Rule does not apply to nation-states. The Reagan Revolution, also emphasized in the curriculum change, fits nicely in this arc.
Students should, in addition to learning about Common Sense, also learn about Thomas Paine’s later work, The Age of Reason, in which Paine rails against Christianity and the very concept of religion.
Though I don’t imagine the above lessons are what the Texans have in mind. I’m sure they have in mind things like Washington’s declaration from his farewell address, “let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.” Still, Texans have the right idea.
