TSBOE and Thomas Jefferson

The Texas State Board of Education’s (TSBOE) recent change in the removal of Thomas Jefferson from a list of philosophers and adding John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, and Sir William Blackstone is an outrage. I tried to find the actual minutes from the meeting, but they aren’t available yet for some reason, even though it’s over two weeks after the meeting. It is being said that one of the main reasons is because of his belief on separation of Church and State.


Thomas Jefferson was a deeply religious man himself, but he knew that these two should be separate, as indicated in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. This instance of the TSBOE’s removal of Mr. Jefferson and replacing him with such religious figures demonstrates the exact reason why these two should be separate. The mostly ultra-conservative TSBOE should be thoroughly ashamed of what they have done, but I doubt they have truly considered the extent and consequences of what they have done.


Not only does this affect students here in Texas, but it will affect students all over the U.S. Texas is a huge exporter of textbooks to the rest of the nation. Other states should be questioning the motives of this move also. TSBOE’s response states they believe that Jefferson doesn’t belong in the philosophy part of the textbook. Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, is the one who introduced the change, and also referenced the Enlightenment in her amendment. Of course, the Enlightenment is a philosophy that emphasized reason and science over religion and tradition.


The following quote can be found at the Texas Freedom Network: “Students should learn that Jefferson was one of America’s greatest political thinkers and that his ideas have inspired not just Americans but other people around the world in their struggles for freedom.” The mostly highly-conservative board is trying to have their personal viewpoints instituted on what should be taught instead of what has been highly regarded over the past two centuries as the standard and truth. Even if they thought Jefferson should be removed from this section, why replace him with such religious thinkers and strike out the Enlightenment philosophers.


It is clear that this has personal motivation and ideologies rather than educating children on all aspects of that part of history. I encourage everyone to take action and make your opinions known. Write the TSBOE, TEA, or Governor and call for this to be changed. Bill White has an open letter to Rick Perry asking him to have this reconsidered here. You can email the TSBOE directly here. You can email Governor Perry’s office here.