The Texas State Board of Education is supposed to be setting the curriculum for that state’s schools. The problem is that the Board has not done its research like it demands of its students.

Author Bill Martin Jr. had his book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? banned because he was confused with Professor Bill Martin Jr. of DePaul University who wrote Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation.

While neither of the State Board of Education members who wanted the author of Ethical Marxism banned admits to reading or even perusing through it, the title was enough to irritate them.

“It’s a good enough reason for me to get rid of someone,” Board member Pat Hardy said because of the “very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system.”

I always thought criticism was the American Way, but in Texas, they don’t let the First Amendment part of the American system get in the way.

So Bill Martin Jr. is banned. Both of them.

As the embarrassing situation played out, the board member who initially brought the matter up, Terri Leo, said that she did not do any research and did not mean for a motion to be made.

What the heck, since one was made, might as well vote for it, right?

Leo had enough time to write a note to Hardy about the books, but not enough time to research two searches on Google.

Type in Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation and Amazon appears as the first entry. Click on it and it leads to the Amazon page where half a scroll off the opening screen and under “Editorial Reviews” is a short blurb “About the Author.”

“Bill Martin is Professor of Philosophy at DePaul University in Chicago. He is a musician, cyclist, and chess enthusiast whose numerous previous books include The Radical Project: Sartrean Investigations (2001), Avant Rock: Experimental Music from the Beatles to Bjork (2002), and he is co-author of Marxism and the Call of the Future (2005).”

Google Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? and Amazon appears as the second listing. Click to Amazon, scroll down the page to “More About the Author” and this Bill Martin has his own page.

Two minutes of research or days of embarrassment. Texas parents must be thrilled to know who has control of their kids’ education.