GA Republicans Rewrite History to Inject Politics, Religion in Schools

Feb 10, 2012 4 Comments ›› Dustin

A new bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers seeks to inject politics and religion into the classroom.

SB 426 is a bill that would mandate the teaching of “age-appropriate” American history in certain classes. Schools already teach American history, this bill seeks to alter the content of the courses. There are many problems with this bill.

First, the bill seeks to expand the teaching of religion in American history. The word “religion” or “religious” is used over twenty times. The bill also requires the teaching of the Black Robed Regiment. The Black Robed Regiment was a religious organization during the Revolutionary War. Glenn Beck used this group as part of his Washington Rally. This would be an unprecedented focus on religion taught in our classrooms, which would be used to inject politics and religion into our educational system.

Second, it attempts to rewrite the history of slavery. Students would be required to learn that it was Great Britain that mandated slavery in the colonies, that found fathers “always opposed slavery” and that they left “self-correcting constitutional language” to end the institution of slavery. However, this is simply not true.

The first slaves were brought to American by Spanish colonists, not British. In fact, the British law never codified slavery. British ended slavery in 1772, about three years before the Revolutionary War began. Most southern states supported the institution of slavery in their laws and even went to war over the issue in the American Civil War.

Additionally, the Founding Fathers were not against slavery and they did not leave “self-correcting” language in the Constitution to fix it. In fact, 14 of the Founding Fathers held slaves while only 7 did not. Thomas Jefferson included anti-slavery language in the Declaration of Independence initially, but it was later taken out due to objections of other signers. Newsweek has done a great article on the Founding Fathers and their issues regarding slavery.

There was no “self-correcting” language, as the Georgia Bill mentions. The Constitution had to be amendment to end slavery. The 13th Amendment was passed to end slavery in the United States. Self-Correcting language would imply that the Constitution said “after the year XXXX, Slavery shall no longer be legal.” The Constitution does use this frequently, by saying, for example, “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day” and “Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner.” However, none of these references regard slavery.

There are other mentions of conservative political philosophies. Part of the curriculum would mandate the importance of State’s Rights over the federal government, which Republicans frequently accuse President Obama of violating. The bill speaks of keeping “government as close to the people as possible,” a jab at larger federal institutions. There is a specific focus on the 9th and 10th amendments over all other amendments. There is also a section to talk about “the Founders’ views about the proper boundaries of public debt.” Finally, Republicans mandate teaching of “unjust government interference with trade, free enterprise, and private property rights.” This is anti-regulation language, which is the philosophy that lead to the banking crisis.

Finally, this bill takes power away from the local school boards and places it in the hands of the state legislators. They can barely run our state, much less micro manage a school’s curriculum.