Texas' board of education has narrowly approved a new K-5 curriculum that includes Bible stories, reports Shaun Rabb for Fox News. Schools don't have to use the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum, but those who do so will get an extra $60 per student.
The lessons were revised in response to critics who said they were too Christian for public schools.
Lessons teach about the Golden Rule, mentioning Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and adding that other religions have variations of the rule. (Jews would say Rabbi Hillel invented the Golden Rule.) Other lessons use "examples from the stories of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan," writes Rabb.
In teaching fifth graders about Juneteenth, the lesson mentions: "Abraham Lincoln and other leading abolitionists relied on a deep Christian faith and commitment to America’s founding principles that people should be equal under the law to guide their certainty of the injustice of slavery." (The instructional materials are here.)
Bluebonnet Learning celebrates American ideals, writes Aaron Kinsey, chair of the Texas Board of Education. "The curriculum introduces students to the stories of patriots, innovators, and visionaries who have shaped this great nation, giving our students the ability to see themselves as heirs to a legacy of courage, determination, and sacrifice."
The most powerful part of the new curriculum is that cultural literacy will be linked to teacher training and state tests, writes Robert Pondiscio of the American Enterprise Institute.
A long-time advocate for "structured, sequenced, knowledge-rich, and vocabulary-rich curriculum," Pondiscio defended Bible stories as essential for building literacy. "The English language is top-heavy with phrases, allusions, and influences drawn directly from the Bible and other touchstones of Western thought."
Texas law will require teachers to be trained on the new knowledge-based curriculum, Pondiscio notes. The state board of education will "add required vocabulary and literature lists to the state’s English language arts standards," aligning TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) to Bluebonnet. The state reading test will "be redesigned with reading passages chosen from the new knowledge-based TEKS."
Aligning state tests to curriculum is a fairer and more accurate reflection of student achievement and teacher quality, he writes. "Instead of wasted hours on mind-numbing test prep and reading-strategy lessons of limited value, the best test-prep strategy would be learning the material in the curriculum standards."
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