Posted on 09/17/2013 2:10:29 PM PDT by markomalley
A Texas high school is using a textbook that changes the wording of the Second Amendment to weaken gun rights.
The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
But at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, an Advanced Placement U.S. History textbook has rewritten the Second Amendment as: “The people have a right to keep and bear arms in a state militia.”
The AP version of the Second Amendment may be easier for students to remember, but its text appears to weaken the protections afforded to gun owners in the Bill of Rights.
“The textbook’s version implies that only state-sanctioned police or military forces are allowed to carry a gun, which is neither correct, nor the intention of the founders,” according to Rare, a conservative website.
The wording of other amendments is also changed. The textbook says that the First Amendment prohibits Congress from favoring one religion over another, when in fact it says that Congress shall make no law “respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
An article on The Daily Paul asked conservative parents to demand answers from the school district’s board of trustees.
The trustees of Denton Independent School District did not respond to requests for comment.
The textbook has received highly negative reviews on Amazon.com.
does anyone think its just one school?
has this school commented on this yet?
public school is public school
it does not matter where they are located
it’s a public school that is really all the info you should need, the location is immaterial, it is a public school no matter where it is located
Looks like a lot of schools use it. Or at least more than one.
And I am betting no if they still recommend it to their students.
Whatever that book is, I can almost assure it wasn't approved by our state board on text books. We elect those people and there is always a high number of really, really, conservative people on that board and the liberals yell every year. So, I'm wondering if those books were bought by the school itself for that advanced class.
I've put this info. on this forum before. Texas buys more textbooks than any other state, so book companies write their books so our conservatives will approve the book. Once our people approve a textbook, then the publisher prints them for all states.
If parts of the book aren't approved, our people will re-write those parts for the publisher to change the book before printing the final copies. Any book that doesn't get approved, means the publisher is going to lose money due to the number of books our state buys.
When I put this info. on before, some didn't believe our people on the board were conservative - well, the majority have been for at least the last fifteen years because I knew about it. Republicans running for that board, go to Republican meetings in counties in their district and make their pitch to be elected. “We don't approve no rinos.”
Much of the time, the liberals get so mad at those meetings, they walk out.
We do the best we can in Texas to give us truthful textbooks and that means your state gets truthful textbooks, too. You can fault our Texas system if you want, but I know it works as well as one could.
You know, this sort of “history modification” was done in the USSR, right? And, didn’t the USSR fall?
“I can see this in Minnesota. BUT TEXAS?!?”
Oh, I can see it. Texas is a LARGE buyer of textbooks and highly influential in the purchase of textbooks by other states.
Which is why it was so important that Texas get this book.
USSR never existed. It has always been Mother Russia.
And Oceania has always been at war with East Asia.
A great teaching opportunity. Tell the kids to read the REAL Constitution. Then ask them why they think their teacher would change the wording.
it does not matter where they are located"
Exactly. Even here in conservative Idaho, the fuzzy headed Commiefornians are taking over school district after school district, because conservatives are sitting back and letting it happen.
If we as a nation survive another 20 years, we're going to have an even bigger nightmare scenario on our hands than we have now, as Generation.com starts to come into its own, and take the reins of government.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I can’t comment further without JimRob banishing me for life :)
There were 31 comments on the 9/13 review. Here is the first one from A. Alkema.
This is a high school class. These students are impressionable and about to enter a college experience HEAVILY biased in one direction (left). It’s just plain irresponsible text book writing to input your personal interpretation into what ought to be an unbiased presentation of the facts. There is no excuse for an adult professional to manipulate their position like this. And parents who care about the facts their children are learning would do well to ensure they don’t read this type of book. You can bet if this slipped in, there are other historical inaccuracies as well. It’s the larger patter of this consistently happening in the production of text books that brings us “second amendment creeps” out. Although I think most of us would prefer to be called “Constitutional creeps” since it’s not just the 2nd amendment we care about....
frightening prospect
Thanks. I wonder if they’d be eager to recommend it if, for example, the book “summarized” the history on slavery in the US or something near and dear to them.
Also, so colleges are teaching this too? Wonderful.
The constitution and the Bill of Rights are remarkably concise; hence there’s no legitimate reason to paraphrase or summarize any clause. All that can happen is a change in the original meaning. Students must be taught the original language and then encouraged to discuss that language in it’s historic context.
IF they taught the correct definition of the militia in the class, it would be correct:
“I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials.”
— George Mason, in Debates in Virginia Convention on
Ratification of the Constitution
“The militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves, ... all men capable of bearing arms;...”
— “Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republic”, 1788 (either Richard Henry Lee or Melancton Smith).
Unfortunately, that is not how it is taught. Some idiots try to argue that the National Guard is the militia - which it manifestly is NOT.
A “Well Regulated Militia” consists private citizens with their own military grad weapons.
http://www.constitution.org/mil/cs_milit.htm
Texas. Huh. Waiting for someone to tell me how rock solid Texas is.
Wasn’t Texas a leader in adding Muslim propaganda to its history lessons as well?
Their 1st Amendment summary is just as bad throwing in the “separation of church and state” phrase.
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