Push to Remove People from History Textbooks

AUSTIN, TX - It's a battle of the books.  Who should be included in school history textbooks and who should be left out?  The latest battlefield is in Texas, where some noted people are being left out of the curriculum.

U.S. history - what our children learn in school, depends on the history written in their textbooks.

"We have to take the partisan politics out of what are children are being taught in the classroom as far as history is concerned." said April Griffin, a school board member.

But that's what critics say is happening in Texas, where a mostly Republican Board of Education is "rewriting the history books" wanting to include more conservative ideas, including teaching America's "Christian or Biblical heritage."

Terry Kemple with the Community Issues Council in Tampa, Florida, agrees with what's happening in Texas, saying both sides of this issue have an agenda.  "The thing is, which is the agenda, that is most true to American History. and if you go back and review history. There's no question, that the Christian underpinnings of our government is what we should be teaching our kids."

But there are concerns over some of the names being erased from the books.  In early drafts, the Board looked at throwing out Neil Armstrong, Christopher Columbus, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.  Armstrong and Columbus are back in..the others, still out.  They could be replaced with names like Senator Joseph McCarthy and Phyllis Schlafly, an opponent of feminism and the equal rights amendment.

"The fact that this is such a partisan issue, thats what this is, this is politics playing out in the classroom and that should not happen. educators, practitioners need to be making these decisions." said Griffin.

It's a national issue because Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks.  What they buy impacts other states.  Griffin says Florida has the Sunshine state standards and wouldn't buy these books if it doesn't meet the standards.  "We have a very big say in what the publishers write."

But smaller states might not have a choice.