AUSTIN – Packing into an Austin hearing room Tuesday, dozens of people spoke against a Mexican-American studies textbook being considered by the State Board of Education.
“Mexican American Heritage” was the only book submitted to the 15-member board for consideration. Scholars and activists have panned the book as inaccurate and offensive. On Tuesday, they had a chance to tell the State Board of Education.
More than 100 politicians, scholars, activists and ordinary people signed up to speak against a book they found deeply troubling.
“I really think this book is intentionally a political project,” Dr. Aimee Villarreal, a professor of Mexican American Studies at Our Lady of the Lake University, told KSAT outside the hearing. “It is intentionally intended to kind of strip Mexican-American studies of its political edge.”
Villarreal was one member of an ad-hoc committee of scholars who reviewed the textbook. The committee found 141 factual errors, errors of omission and errors of interpretation.
One excerpt from the pre-adoption sample of the book reads, "Chicanos, on the other hand, adopted a revolutionary narrative that opposed Western civilization and wanted to destroy (modern, democratic society)."
"Industrialists were very driven, competitive men who were always on the clock and continually concerned about efficiency," reads another passage. "They were used to their workers putting in a full day's work, quietly and obediently, and respecting rules, authority and property. Mexican laborers were not reared to put in a full day's work so vigorously. There was a cultural attitude of 'mañana,' or 'tomorrow,' when it came to high-gear production."
The book’s publisher, Momentum Instruction, is headed by former State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar. Dunbar denied any racism or intentional offense in the book, saying it made “absolutely zero sense” to offend the very sort of people they hope will take the course.
She said Momentum Instruction had sent updated content, which included clarifications to those two sections, to the State Board of Education.
Dunbar said the section about Chicanos was commentary and the language has since been clarified. The intent was not to put it forward as justifying that all Chicanos felt that way or that it was an “actual, factual documentation.”
In regards to the section about Mexican work ethic, she said it was supposed to be describing the stereotype. The additional content, she said, makes it clear the descriptions were racially motivated stereotypes and not fact.
She also said she was willing to fix problems in the book but “To date, I still have been not given any documentation of these alleged errors.”
Still, people came from around the state to speak. Not all of them were scholars, either.
Mary Esther Escobedo, a former Eisenhower Middle School history teacher, had her own bone to pick with the book about why it excluded events in San Antonio such as the Battle of Medina.
“It was omissions. You put in a South American country, but you don’t put in things that actually affected the people from Texas? Come on?”
Some board members, such as San Antonio’s Ken Mercer, questioned why only one book was brought forward.
“I am lost as to why we have such a wealth of expertise in this state and no one else in the state of Texas submitted a book,” said the Republican member.
Districts are not required to use board-approved classroom materials, though most do.
The board is scheduled to vote on the book in November.