it is just to appreciate the profound impact that it has had on our history and on our government.

They should combine the class with the Qur'an as literature and in history since the impact on world politics is enormous.

Part of my job is editing educational video modules for textbook publishers, and I can't even tell you the number of times we've been asked to change something "because it needs to sell in Texas."

Oh yeah. I worked as an editor for a major textbook publisher for years and we had to do "special editions" and also put all controversial topics into ancillary materials. I worked on an AIDS one, and it just infuriated me that many states wouldn't use it. Arg.

I vaguely recall Texas insisting on removing a reference to prostitution in the Old West from a high school textbook (like, one sentence mentioning that there were prostitutes there) because American history classes are supposed to instill a sense of pride in our country, and that's not something to be proud of.

I vaguely recall Texas insisting on removing a reference to prostitution in the Old West from a high school textbook (like, one sentence mentioning that there were prostitutes there) because American history classes are supposed to instill a sense of pride in our country, and that's not something to be proud of.

That's just sad. Um, not that they didn't have pride in prostitution, that history classes would put facts second to propaganda.

Tangentially related, the funniest letter we got at that publisher (in our division anyway) was in reference to a misspelling of the word "public" that had a classroom of 7th graders howling with laughter. Bet you can't guess which letter was missing...

"ublic" is a pretty funny sounding word I have to admit.

And Abraham Lincoln the first Republican president? Weird.

Yeah, but that was that old, moderate, borderline LIBERAL form of Republican. And he was from Illinois. (Even if he was born in Kentucky.)

And I had the Bible in Honors English Lit sophomore year of high school

"I think it is a good thing because a lot of kids don't have that experience, and they already want to take prayer out of school as it is, and you see where our kids are ending up!"

I wonder if there has ever been an era where people think, "Kids these days, they are so much better than they used to be."

Bet you can't guess which letter was missing...

Bwah!

I grew up near a public parking lot with the same typo. (Well, technically a letter that had fallen off. It was finally replaced after I moved away to college.)

The public library where I worked had a sign out front on which they had to constantly replace the "l" since it would disappear on a regular basis.