Thread by @rbirds12

@SenAudrey2eet @FundEducNow The FL Leg will almost surely pass a bill dramatically expanding educational vouchers. Materials used in at least one in every five Duval private schools currently accepting FTC vouchers wildly distort U.S. history and what science does. #vouchershurt

I looked through a Middle School history and science text published by an extremely conservative, religious publisher. Here are some of the distortions I found in the history text. Science text analysis soon. #vouchershurt

This text on U.S. history begins with a description of the Reformation featuring a separate box detailing Martin Luther's life. Why? Leader of the Protestant revolution in a textbook written by Protestant enthusiasts.

Followed with an expression of relief that colonists escaped Catholic authoritarianism. No mention of Protestant colonists expelling, harassing, killing those not agreeing with the Protestant theocracy in new colonies.

This textbook does not ignore slavery but argues Founding Fathers opposed slavery and that "slaves cost too much to mistreat." I refer anyone interested to thousands of online photos of mistreated enslaved peoples in America.

A textbox championing the life of Robert E. Lee is found in the Civil War section. The war's aftermath is assessed from a "law and order" perspective.

In this section the textbook the narrative claims Andrew Johnson only wanted to restore order, wondering aloud why Johnson was removed for doing nothing more than "disagreeing with the Radicals about the best means of Reconstruction."

The KKK was started by those "denied participation in the political process." The text begrudges mentioning that violence did occur but soft-pedals it. Actually, started by white oligarchy, along with other terrorist groups. Terrorized Black Americans for nearly a decade.

The text offers little on restoration of the Klan in the 1920s: fear of immigration, fear of Blacks, Catholics. Actually 4.5 million members by 1924. Nothing in the text conveys the extent of actual and threatened violence.

On the same page, a text box on Capone's life dominates attention, drawing the reader away from the KKK description. The text's take on the Scopes trial champions Wm. Jennings Bryan, siding with those denying evolution. Bryan's opponents "dogmatically trust science."

Joseph McCarthy only failed to find Communists in federal gov't because of "Truman's previous success in rooting security risks out of the government." In reality, Truman launched a witch hunt in 1947, screening 5 million people, forcing 2.7K dismissals and 12K resignations.

The text admits McCarthy went overboard, but “what was often ignored in the outrage over McCarthy’s methods was the reality of the Communist threat in America. McCarthy probably brought genuine anticommunism into disrepute.” A good guy with bad manners, that's all.

Unsurprisingly, a quick description of the radical Right group, the John Birch Society, approves of them, just a group of patriots rooting out Communism. The group's namesake is described as a Christian missionary killed by Chinese communists. Actually an Army intelligence agent.

While Dr. Martin Luther King's work is acknowledged, the text attempts to paint him as a liberal whose activities led to widespread violence. Dr. King "turned from his religiously conservative upbringing" to attend a liberal seminary and "an equally liberal Boston University."

His father was a leader in the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP. He led the fight in Atlanta to raise teacher salaries and eliminate Jim Crow elevators in the state courthouse. The text hints at Dr. King's "strident" language incited violence.

Violence stemming from demands for civil rights is described in far greater detail and length than KKK-inspired violence. These "radicals," astonishingly, urged "even black supremacy over whites." Thinking here of the skimpy coverage of White violence during Reconstruction.

The text notes emergence of the Black Panther Party, characterized as "the black version of the Ku Klux Klan." Thinking back to the 19th century KKK described as formed by those denied participation in the political process.

Of course, the Black Panther Party was created, in part, in reaction to the assassination of Malcolm X who does not appear anywhere in this text. But we do have those featured bios of Confederate general Robert E. Lee and creationist William Jennings Bryan.

Most shocking was the textbook's handling of Dr. King's assassination. The text observes that "ironically, the death of a man who had won the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of nonviolence became the cause of fighting, looting and bloodshed."

This is the blame-the-victim nonsense I heard as a teenager in Jim Crow Jacksonville while attending a strictly enforced segregated school -- in the mid-1960's. This is what is going into the heads of voucher-funded private schools in Florida. #vouchershurt. Science text soon.

Going into the heads of voucher-funded private school *students* in Florida.