Is Texas Spinning History?
The Texas Board of Education caused a brouhaha this week after, in the words of the Center for Media and Democracy, changing “history textbooks to advance right-wing ideological positions on historical matters.” So how does this relate to the field of economics? The New York Times reports:
In economics, the revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, among the usual list of economists to be studied, like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. They also replaced the word “capitalism” throughout their texts with the “free-enterprise system.”
“Let’s face it, capitalism does have a negative connotation,” said one conservative member, Terri Leo. “You know, ‘capitalist pig!’ “
Um, what’s the problem? Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek are tremendously influential figures, not just in the field of economics. Can a truly honest study of the past century ignore their contributions to the world? I don’t think so. Mention them and criticize them if you must, but don’t ignore them.
I will say this though, this issue could easily be avoided if the government didn’t directly run schools. But I guess that is just me being a right-wing nut again.
6 comments
[...] Free Market Mojo weighs in on the storm of controversy: Um, what’s the problem? Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek [...]
Whose smart idea was it to teach every person in the country from the same book?
Talk about the stupidest idea ever.
These are the signs that we are beginning to leave behind the Dark Ages of economics.
its about time Hayek became mainstream
though I highly doubt they will be teaching the road to serfdom in the classroom
http://autonomyandpolitics.blogspot.com/
[...] Is Texas Spinning History? [...]
[...] It seems the Texas Board of Education has done the unthinkable. [...]
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