Digging Deeper for the Roots of Curricula Reforms in the Southwest: A few weeks after Arizona approved a controversial K-12 curriculum change, its sidekick in Texas followed suit. While Arizona banned Ethnic Studies, slamming a controversial king on the table, Texas has pulled out an ace—refashioning its entire social studies curriculum.In Texas, the changes will affect almost 5 million public school students every year over the next decade and countless more students in other states. Since Texas is the leading consumer of textbooks and dominates the market, writers and publishers base their materials on the standards in Texas.
There is a glaring directive in these moves by Arizona and Texas lawmakers and educators. They are truly coming from the same suit.
These Texas and Arizona leaders want their curricula to breed even more American patriotism. They are eliminating the relatively few oppositional spaces, ideas, principles, figures, and terms. They are removing the small amount of educational elements that millions of AALANAs (African-Americans, Latino/as, Asians, and Native Americans) and progressive Whites have fought for decades to insert into the curricula.
