Linkmeister

Influential people you've never heard of

You probably have to be mired in the depths of the textbook acquisition process to recognize the name Norma Gabler. I didn't know the name off the top of my head, but I remember hearing and reading about her and her late husband. From my point of view they were right-wing zealots who had an inordinate amount of influence on the kind of schoolbooks approved for kids in this country. They were "watchdogs" who managed to get language into textbooks which emphasized a conservative religious point of view.

For more than four decades, the couple influenced what children read, not just in Texas but around the country.

The reason was Texas’ power to be a national template; the state board chooses textbooks for the entire state, and of the 20 or so states that choose books statewide, only California is bigger than Texas. It is difficult and costly for publishers to put out multiple editions, so a book rejected by Texas might not be printed at all.

They got their start when their son brought home a textbook which had a partial text of the Gettysburg Address; it omitted the phrase "Under God," and that offended them. They moved on from there to such questions as

Why did a history textbook give more space to the French Revolution than to the American Revolution? Were not Vietnam and Watergate overemphasized? Was Robin Hood a hero, as the text claimed, or a dangerous advocate of income redistribution?

She has died at age 84.

Update: I should have known that PZ Myers of Pharyngula would note her passing. He also reposted his thoughts upon the death of her husband three years earlier.

Posted by Linkmeister at August 2, 2007 09:17 AM | TrackBack