Contrary to popular belief, the history of the United States has not always been a fight between the two political groups, conservatives and liberals.

Members of the Texas Board of Education are attempting to change that, though.
Since Texas is a large buyer of textbooks, its decisions on curriculum have an enormous influence on textbook manufacturers.

Last week, the board crafted and approved a social studies curriculum that it said was aimed at “correcting a liberal bias” in American history textbooks. This includes downplaying any mention of a constitutional separation of church and state, and putting more emphasis on modern republican philosophy and administrations.

Like most people outside of the 10 Texas board members who voted yes, we disagree with this decision.

You don’t fix history textbooks that are liberal by making them more conservative. Instead, you should take out the pieces that are slanting to the right or left. The books should be more objective and historical and less persuasive of any political party.

The board members claim to be fighting partisan indoctrination and corruption of our nation’s education. They are apparently deaf to the irony of their actions.

Historians would be the perfect people to help the Texas Board of Education complete this task. Unfortunately, none were asked to be part of the decision making process.

Historians, sociologists and economists were all excluded from the discussions on the curriculum changes. Not one of the 10 members is an expert in history, either, despite their self-proclaimed mastery of the topics.

The opinion of a few board members, who are not historians, should not affect an entire generation.

There are 30 days allotted for public comment, which could change the expected effect this decision has on America’s education. Several educators, textbook writers and history teachers have already written to The New York Times in protest of the decision.

One board member started protesting the situation before the final vote when she stormed out of meeting Thursday night.

“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” Mary Helen Berlanga told The New York Times.

We agree with Berlanga’s assertion that board members were crossing the line and “rewriting history.”

The rest of the country should start fighting for this decision to be changed, too. Letting a few people in Texas rewrite history would be an embarrassing moment for America.