There has been an ongoing war being waged by the most extreme elements of the religious right against rationality in the United States in recent years. In March, the Texas School Board announced that history and science content were being revised to fit a blatantly right wing ideological view, which has served as the latest salvo in the ongoing war against rationality. What makes the case of Texas textbook content controversial is that because Texas is the largest buyer of textbooks whose standards are often adopted nationally – at least that is how textbook adoption used to be. While these standards are still of concern, the actions of the Texas School Board will not have as far reaching effects as some liberal and centrist commentators suggest.

            First, while Texas does have a disproportionate influence in textbook content, the fact is that more states are now adopting statewide standards of their own that have forced the textbook industry to take heed of the demands of individual states. In an interview with the Texas Tribune, former textbook industry lobbyist David Anderson described the reality facing textbook manufacturers. “The core narrative is very similar” across the country, Anderson said. “If you can customize a book for Texas, and un-customize it for the Midwest — and Texas is controversial — then that’s what you’re going to do.” While Texas has made the decision to purposefully make their children dumber, other states (like California) have passed legislation making the adoption of Texas textbooks illegal, forcing the industry to react in this way.

            Is Oregon one of the states that adopts Texas book standards? Oregon is one of twenty states that has statewide textbook standards; given the political leanings of Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo, this seems highly unlikely. Instead, the Oregon legislature routinely reviews textbook standards, and did so as recently as 2007. As more states react against the decisions of the Texas School Board, fewer states will adopt the standards set by the ideologically driven members of that state's school board.

            There are two other factors that limit Texas's future impact on the education system of other states: modern technology and textbook reform movements. On the technology front, advances in digital printing technology have dramatically lowered the costs of customizing textbooks to meet the needs of individual school districts or states, which greatly reduces the influence Texas has outside its borders. In addition, lawmakers in Washington DC are promoting the adoption of national textbook standards; Texas is only one of two states opposed to this move, which is expected to pass Congress in the near future.

            While Texas's move to remove civil rights leaders from text books and the inclusion of creationism is troubling, the influence of Texas on the national education system is waning. As Texas and other states force ideology and blatant historical revisionism into the classroom to meet their narrow agenda, other states and the Congress are being forced to limit the impact of Texas on the education standards of the rest of the nation. If Texas continues to push its standards on the rest of the nation then Texas's standards will soon be irrelevant to the rest of the nation by virtue of the textbook market and national legislation.