The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) should adopt a required literature list that supports the literacy and knowledge-acquisition of Texas students and not allow leftist organizations like the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (TCTELA) to pressure them into adopting a watered-down, politically driven list.
Texas public schools have failed at both teaching students literacy and protecting them from inappropriate content. Our scores in national reading assessments are falling, while schools are fighting tooth and nail to keep obscene books in their libraries. I might also accuse schools of teaching with these inappropriate books, but, as a teacher from Fort Worth ISD recently testified, it does not seem that they are teaching books much at all. These schools take their cues from groups like TCTELA, who are more concerned with promoting with own progressive agenda than with platforming authors of high literary value. One of their favorites, middle-grade author E.E. Charlton Trujillo, writes books that “tackle” teen issues like bullying and self-esteem by hyper focusing on ethnic identity and sexual identity.
Students should be studying great literature in school, not learning about social justice from books that make jokes that stopped being funny in the mid-2000s.
The Texas Legislature instructed the State Board of Education to create of a required reading list to ensure that every public school student graduates literate and knowledgeable. Under this new literature list, Texas students will read age-appropriate books that depict valuable moral lessons, contextual knowledge, and perspectives on our nation’s history.
Leftwing education activists, however, are not going down without a fight. It is in their best interests that students continue to read as little as possible, because ignorant students are more susceptible to their propaganda. But since the state will soon require certain books to be read, the activists are working overtime to ensure that their preferred titles make the list.
These activists are using TCTELA, the Texas branch of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), to organize their own workgroups to propose a counter-literature list. Their Facebook page exuberantly calls for teachers to join a group to “provide direct, classroom-grounded recommendations to inform decision-making.” In other words, TCTELA is planning to weaponize their position as the “representative organization” of Texas English teachers to bully the SBOE into accepting their revised literature list.
This advocacy group is attempting to override not just the members of the State Board of Education but the input of the broader community of English teachers. A total of 5,700 teachers were polled and over 10,000 titles were reviewed for age appropriateness, literary value, and TEKS alignment to form the initial literature list draft.
But what is TCTELA and why would they be opposed to this comprehensive literature list?
Its agenda is clear from the position statements found on its website. It oppose state attempts to protect students from harmful materials in schools and libraries, such as books containing sexual content and critical race theory. Additionally, the organization has joined their national counterpart, the National Council of Teachers of English, to oppose the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,” which would prohibit the use of federal funds to provide or promote sexual materials to children. Clearly, TCTELA prioritizes its own organizational values over what is best for Texas students.
TCTELA is more concerned with promoting its own progressive agenda than with platforming authors of high literary value.