Texas tall tale: religious right cowboy David Barton's fixin' to rewrite the social studies textbooks in the lone star state

When the Texas State Board of Education issued a list of proposed "experts" to sit on a social studies curriculum panel, one name immediately leaped out to defenders of church-state separation: The panel is supposed to consist of academics and others with specialized knowledge to assist the board in drafting new social studies standards for public schools across the state. "Barton's pseudo-intellectual nonsense serves to validate the personal beliefs and emotions of people who have been exposed for decades to far-right rhetoric denouncing those with high levels of education as somehow 'promoting a liberal agenda.'" In 1998, a conservative member of the California Academic Standards Commission appointed Barton to an advisory position, asking the Texan to critique proposed social studies/history standards.