Rives fights 'pro-Islamic' bias

An Odessa man says textbooks in Texas have a bias against Christianity and for Islam, and he submitted a resolution Friday morning to the Texas State Board of Education to address it.

Randy Rives, a former Ector County Independent School District board member, presented a resolution on “Democratic Values in Social Studies Textbooks” that argues past textbooks have devoted more passages to negative aspects of Christianity in history while downplaying or omitting those of Muslims.

“If you’re going to teach it, teach it all,” Rives said in a phone interview.

Rives said it wasn’t just an unconscious bias of authors but involved an intentional effort by certain investors.

“As more and more Middle Eastern companies get into the textbooks, there’s more of this going on,” Rives said.

Rives said in the resolution that the Social Studies TEKS says only what a course should cover and not what it should avoid.

The resolution said that under the Texas Administrative Code, the SBOE can reject Social Studies submissions that conflict with the Texas Education Code, such as the duty of the SBOE to uphold “the basic democratic values of our state and national heritage.”

The resolution is to be added as an agenda item in an upcoming meeting of the Board, EducationNews.org reported.

In March, Rives was defeated in the Republican primary for the SBOE seat by incumbent Bob Craig.

Texas Administative Code §66.66.

(4) ...No instructional material may be adopted that contains content that clearly conflicts with the stated purpose of the TEC, §28.002(h).

Texas Education Code Sec. 28.002.

(h)  The State Board of Education and each school district shall foster the continuation of the tradition of teaching United States and Texas history and the free enterprise system in regular subject matter and in reading courses and in the adoption of textbooks.  A primary purpose of the public school curriculum is to prepare thoughtful, active citizens who understand the importance of patriotism and can function productively in a free enterprise society with appreciation for the basic democratic values of our state and national heritage.