Texas Board Of Education Declare Hip Hop Is Not A Cultural Movement

March 13, 2010 04:03:00 PM CST | by Krysten Hughes

Members of the Texas State Board of Education gave preliminary approval Friday to remove significant areas of curriculum from civil rights and global politics and replace them with conservative historic figures and beliefs. Courses that would be affected by these changes include social studies, history and economics.

One of the subjects debated amongst the lawyers, dentists and publishers, who make up the board, was whether or not Hip Hop should be taught as a cultural movement. According to the Huffington Post, right wing members voted that Hip Hop should be deleted as a requirement and that students should not be taught about its cultural impact across not only the United States, but the world.

Conservatives also approved to have a sociological focus on institutional racism and its presence in American society banned from the books, as well as removing important references of Latino and Hispanic figures throughout history.

The Texas State Board of Education approved of the new expectations with a 10-5 vote, and a final decision is expected to be made in May, but not before holding an open forum where the public can produce additional arguments and even possibly, different amendments to stop some of the changes from being implemented.

If the amendments are approved, the changes to the content will affect learning nationwide because most school textbooks are published in Texas and would be taught to millions of students for the next 10 years.