Texas has developed a coherent theory of education, emphasizing cumulative knowledge and literacy. The state’s new social studies standards and reading list reflect this approach, focusing on specific, chronological content and background knowledge.

Knowledge-Building Curriculum

The Texas State Board of Education adopted new social studies standards and a required literature reading list for its public schools. These changes follow Texas’s 2024 release of its “Bluebonnet” curriculum, which sparked controversy over the inclusion of Bible stories in the reading materials.

The new social studies standards are admirably explicit about the knowledge-building component of civics. They include slavery, the Civil War, Juneteenth, segregation, the civil rights movement, and figures such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks.

Equity and Cultural Knowledge

A curriculum is not principally a mirror in which every child must see a flattering reflection of himself. Its more important function is to give children access to a world they did not make but must learn to navigate—including the taken-for-granted cultural knowledge their more privileged peers are likely to encounter outside school.

Critics have charged that the new Texas standards and curricula are overly patriotic. However, public schools are, if nothing else, public institutions. It should not be controversial for them to cultivate some measure of affection for the community, state, and country that created and sustains them.

Original reporting: The Dallas Express — read the source article.