Whit
@drwhit.bsky.social
Historian. Currently working in history education advocacy. Constantly searching for metaphors. Adaptation requires hope. Also @drwhit@historians.social.
Good morning, all. I'm back! Starting late for the blockbuster Texas SBOE meeting, during which we can expect the large majority of the board to continue jamming their enormous, costly, ill-advised, slapdash, Christian Nationalist social studies standards revision for 5.5 million kids in Texas.
What do students miss when US history lessons stop at Vietnam? Join our State of the Field for Busy Teachers event on May 6 at 1:45 p.m. ET on teaching recent US history, from themes and sources to classroom strategies. With Gregory Daddis, Sage Gray, Mindy Lawrence, and Lee Vinsel. Register now.
State of the Field for Busy Teachers: Post-1970s US History – AHA
State of the Field for Busy Teachers: Post-1970s US History AHA Learn Wednesday, May 6, 1:45–3 p.m. ET Secondary teachers interviewed and surveyed for the AHA's American Lesson Plan (2024) consistentl...
historians.org
Growing up in Germany, Katharina Matro “was confronted with my country’s history without mercy. It’s made me a more informed citizen, a more politically aware citizen, a more critical thinker.” #FreedomToLearn #HonestHistory
Teaching with Integrity: Confronting a Nation's Past
YouTube video by American Historical Association
youtube.com
The AHA has released a statement opposing the new Texas Tech University Course Content Guidelines, which prohibit content related to sexual orientation & gender identity in undergraduate courses, without defining these terms. Students deserve full and accurate histories. Read the statement:
AHA Opposes Restrictions on Teaching and Learning at Texas Tech University - AHA
The AHA has released a statement strongly opposing the new Texas Tech University Course Content Guidelines. The guidelines impose a “strict prohibition” on content related to “Sexual Orientation and G...
historians.org
Good morning, everyone. The Board will take up social studies standards again today. Here's yesterday's coverage. The details get fuzzier towards the end because I was so tired, sorry. I can't vouch for how coherent it is, since the Board adjourned around 1:20 AM CT. Threads below:
When we get back from break, we're proceeding to discussion of the social studies revision with content advisors. If you'd like to see coverage of the public testimony that preceded, visit this thread. We reached 105 testifiers by my count. bsky.app/profile/drwh...
Whit@drwhit.bsky.social · 6mo agoOkay, that went quick. We're on item 3. You can catch up with what happened on the literary lists here. bsky.app/profile/drwh...
So Kinsey said something about them trying to amend it at 11 PM tonight, and that may be optimistic. It seems more likely that they will adjourn after testimony.
Jenn Borgioli Binis@jennbinis.bsky.social · 6mo ago@drwhit.bsky.social Thanks for all of the live-skeeting! How late is this scheduled to go tonight?
Okay, that went quick. We're on item 3. You can catch up with what happened on the literary lists here. bsky.app/profile/drwh...
Whit@drwhit.bsky.social · 6mo agoOkay, coming over here for the discussion on the literary lists. We're still on the first item. If you want to see the rundown for the public testimony on the literary lists that began at 8 AM CT and ended around 4 PM CT, go here: bsky.app/profile/did:...
Okay, coming over here for the discussion on the literary lists. We're still on the first item. If you want to see the rundown for the public testimony on the literary lists that began at 8 AM CT and ended around 4 PM CT, go here: bsky.app/profile/did:...
Whit@drwhit.bsky.social · 6mo agoGood evening, everyone! Just a heads-up: we've got a whopper of a Texas SBOE meeting tomorrow. Things are getting to a dramatic pitch on the social studies standards revision and the literacy lists. Watch this thread tomorrow at 9 AM CT ⬇️. I'll be here all day so you don't have to.
Good evening, everyone! Just a heads-up: we've got a whopper of a Texas SBOE meeting tomorrow. Things are getting to a dramatic pitch on the social studies standards revision and the literacy lists. Watch this thread tomorrow at 9 AM CT ⬇️. I'll be here all day so you don't have to.
Meeting Agenda — Current | State Board of Education
sboe.texas.gov
Historians with the scoop: “… the letters went unnoticed until Nick Davis, a 23-year-old master’s student at Cambridge University, stumbled upon them last year while researching his history dissertation on Iraq.“ Timely reading.
Paul Bremer ran Iraq for Bush. His emails show what really happened
‘I am now officially the government of Iraq,’ Bremer wrote to his wife in private messages from 2003 unearthed by The Sunday Times. In frank detail, they show the dangers of waging war without the rig...
thetimes.com
Follow this thread for more Texas updates on the social studies revision this week. The SBOE called an emergency meeting on Wednesday 2/25 at 8 AM CT (and may overflow into Thursday, 2/26). It promises to be energetic and likely contentious. See the agenda below. Civics is also on the docket.
February 2026 Committee of the Full Board Special Called Meeting | State Board of Education
sboe.texas.gov
Good morning. Here's the thread from yesterday. It abruptly stops because the SBOE abruptly stopped. Brief recap and live thread of today's proceedings below. ⬇️
Whit@drwhit.bsky.social · 8mo agoGood afternoon, everybody. Texas SBOE meeting began at 1 PM CT, so I'm a little late to catch up. While I get set up, here's my (enormous) thread from yesterday covering the SBOE meeting. tbsky.app/profile/drwh...
Good afternoon, everybody. Texas SBOE meeting began at 1 PM CT, so I'm a little late to catch up. While I get set up, here's my (enormous) thread from yesterday covering the SBOE meeting. tbsky.app/profile/drwh...
tbsky.app
Good morning, all. I’m back to cover today’s Texas SBOE meeting. Livestream and agenda are at the link below. They’re planning to get started at 9 AM CT. I aim to cover all of it, with special attention to item 5 on the social studies standards. Follow this thread for more. ⬇️
Meeting Agenda — Current | State Board of Education
sboe.texas.gov
I love it when historians are really cookin’, gettin’ pithy and (relatively) raucous in their prose. From Kim Allen Scott’s article, “Plague on the Homefront: Arkansas and the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918” (1988):
you just can't have a meaningful conversation about the potential benefits of "AI" while this stuff is happening. it's like trying to talk about how useful an airplane might be during a hijacking
The Verge@theverge.com · 10mo agoWhat the leaked AI executive order tells us about the Big Tech power grab
Good morning, everyone. If you missed my live-posting about the Texas SBOE meeting on social studies standards, among other things, here's the thread from yesterday. Quick note: Quotations are sometimes edited a bit down but are accurate. Other indirect quotes should be taken as paraphrasing.
Whit (@drwhit.bsky.social)
Thanks for joining me. I need to spend some time with all this new information. More thoughts to come when I can bear to look at a screen again. #
tbsky.app
Good morning! Texas is revising its K-12 social studies standards (TEKS) for 5.5 million kids, & the State Board of Education (SBOE) is meeting today to discuss their progress today. I will be live-tweeting (posting?) about anything that concerns social studies. Follow this thread for updates!
Loved working on this piece with @drwhit.bsky.social!
American Historical Association@historians.org · last yr.In #AHAPerspectives, program and data analyst Whitney E. Barringer took stock of her relationship with primary sources on a trip to Puerto Rico on behalf of the AHA's partnership with the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program. 🗃️
@acls1919.bsky.social, the AHA, & @modernlanguage.bsky.social filed a lawsuit in federal district court today, seeking to reverse the recent actions of the NEH to devastate the agency, including the elimination of grant programs, staff, and entire divisions and programs. 🗃️
American Council of Learned Societies, American Historical Association, and Modern Language Association File Lawsuit Alleging Illegal Dismantling of National Endowment for the Humanities - AHA
Lawsuit aims to reinstate NEH grant programs, divisions, and staff. For Immediate Release / May 1, 2025 (New York, NY) — The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the American Historical Assoc...
historians.org
It’s so weird how we’re all just working like this is still a normal country.
Totally agree with this. Flying a person to a third country that they may never have been to, directly into a prison where they are going to be forced to do hard labor, is not a deportation; it's something else entirely.
c-a-m@cad6711.bsky.social · 2y ago@washingtonpost.com They were not DEPORTED. Deported means sending them back to their country of origin. These people were sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, without any due process or any analysis as to whether they feared harm in El Salvador!
If you've tried accessing federal databases and have noticed anything limiting, missing, etc., tell these folks. And if you use federal databases, they're folks to follow on the status of those.
American Statistical Association Office of Science Policy@asa-scipol.bsky.social · 2y agoDo you have information on the health of the federal statistical agencies, or want to follow updates? Please visit this webpage, contribute information, & spread the word on this effort to help ensure the availability, credibility, & objectivity of federal statistics. www.amstat.org/the-nations-...
Do you have information on the health of the federal statistical agencies, or want to follow updates? Please visit this webpage, contribute information, & spread the word on this effort to help ensure the availability, credibility, & objectivity of federal statistics. www.amstat.org/the-nations-...
The Nation's Data at Risk Year Two - Ongoing Monitoring
The American Statistical Association is the world’s largest community of statisticians, the “Big Tent for Statistics.
amstat.org
I’ve been playing Fallout 4 and have been surprised at how comforting it is to be POST-apocalyptic. Nice to be reminded that 1) there IS an after and 2) people will continue to live.
When it comes to written arguments, you have to choose your battles with people who respect the rules of combat. If you’re writing for people who read anything & everything you didn’t say into what you’re saying, you’re not going to win them over that way. Spend your time where it’s valuable.
