Brown Bear gets banned from the Texas Board of Education books
January 29, 2010
Leave Brown Bear alone! What did he ever do?
Well, the Texas Education Board is linking him to capitalism. No lie.
“In its haste to sort out the state’s social studies curriculum standards this month, the State Board of Education tossed children’s author Martin, who died in 2004, from a proposal for the third-grade section. Board member Pat Hardy, R-Weatherford, who made the motion, cited books he had written for adults that contain “very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system.” (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/012510dntexbooks.3e17c50.html)
BESIDES HOW OBVIOUS IT IS THAT THIS MAKES NO SENSE, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Texas majorly goofed. How did this happen..?
The authors of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and a 2008 book called Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation share the same name. However, they ARE NOT the same person. The one linked to Marxism is a philosophy professor at DePaul University in Chicago, AND his book was published four years AFTER the author of the popular children’s book died.
Ohhh Texas. Way to go.
