technology and textbooks!

I recently found out that texas produces most of the textbooks that we use in public schools. last month the state legislation passed new standards eliminating Thomas Jefferson, civil rights information and global politics. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/13/texas-textbook-massacre-u_n_498003.html#slide_image)

now, so far, this is only the standards in texas, but since they are one of the publisher's biggest customer, the books are going out to the rest of the country. regardless of the standards, the books will be taught. total bullshit. this brings up an interesting point. texas has long had a reputation for being pro-american. now one of the great things about america is that we have freedom of information. we do not live in a totalitarian regime in which information is omitted and hidden as in some countries that we are fighting against. we do not, as a country, deny the holocaust, or say change the events leading us into the first world war or the korean war. we do not, as a country, bann our citizens from accessing the internet. however, doesn't omitting one of our founding fathers from the history books exemplify just that? think of how we feel when we hear that people in foreign countries do not have access to the things we do as americans. when we hear that the leader of a country dictates that the holocaust does not exist, (http://www.iranholocaustdenial.com/)
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR2005121402403.html) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527142.stm)
or that there will be no access to information outside of their borders, (http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060113_6735_db053.htm)
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/red/roundtable/internet.html)
this is the exact stuff that the people of texas have long been proud to rally against. so it would seem that texas has effectively put themselves in same category as these dictatorial regimes that exemplify all that we are fighting against. operation iraqi freedom anyone? how about operation american intelligence? we currently rank 18th in education among industrialized countries...
http://www.oecd.org/home/0,2987,en_2649_201185_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/19/US-slipping-in-education-rankings/UPI-90221227104776/
do we really need to be cutting out information from our textbooks? whats next, a good old fashioned book burring? i'm sorry, i thought we lived in the 21st century.