Teachers at Texas schools will no longer be required to include lessons on former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton or political activist Helen Keller.
The Texas Board of Education on Friday voted to remove Clinton and Keller from the state’s social studies curriculum after both received low scores on a questionnaire about historical figures’ background and legacy.
The Dallas Morning News reports that the board is trying to ‘streamline’ the social studies curriculum in the state by determining which historical figures are ‘essential to learn about and who wasn’t’.
The vote to remove Clinton and Keller came after a 15-member, board-nominated volunteer work group created a scale to grade historical figures, according to the outlet.
The group made their choices after they were asked a series of questions about various famous people in history.
An education board in Texas voted to remove Hillary Clinton (left) and Helen Keller (right) from its social studies curriculum
The board voted to add famed evangelist Billy Graham back to the curriculum following his death in February
Clinton, who is a former first lady and Democratic presidential nominee, scored a five on the 20-point scale, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Keller, who was a political activist and the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree, scored a seven.
The group estimated that removing Clinton from the curriculum would save teachers 30 minutes of instructional time and eliminating Keller would save 40 minutes.
According to the Dallas Morning News, figures who received a perfect score and will remain as past of the curriculum include lawyer Barbara Jordan, a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, and former Texas governor Sam Houston.
Misty Matthews, a teacher in Round Rock, told the Morning News that the goal was to ‘simplify’ the curriculum.
‘We tried to make it as objective as possible,’ she said.
Matthews told the outlet that students in the state are required to learn about important figures in social studies class. Clinton was taught to high school students, and Keller to third graders.
Barbara Jordan (left), a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, and former Texas governor Sam Houston (right) received perfect scores on the questionnaire and will remain on the curriculum
The Battle of the Alamo is regarded as the climax of the Texas Revolution, but is regarded as a controversial topic in depicting who the actual heroes were
‘Stop political correctness in our schools,’ Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said last week
In addition, the board voted to add famed evangelist Billy Graham back to the curriculum following his death in February.
On Friday, the Texas education committee reversed its recommendation to omit the word’heroic’ when teaching about the men who guarded the Alamo in history class.
The committee has called ‘heroic’, in reference to the Battle of Alamo, a ‘value-charged’ term. However, governor Gregg Abbott said in a tweet that schoolchildren need to be taught that the Alamo defenders were ‘heroic’.
‘Stop political correctness in our schools,’ he posted. ‘Of course, Texas schoolchildren should be taught that Alamo defenders were “Heroic!” I fully expect the State Board of Education to agree.’
Although Clinton and Keller, along with other historical figures, were removed from the curriculum, that does not mean teachers are prohibited from including them in lessons. The change simply means they aren’t required to teach students about them.
The board will vote again on the changes in November to finalize them.