The Latest Roundup of Texas Education News: Teachings on global warming, the age of the universe and — maybe — social studies affected

Some recent changes in the science standards taught in Texas have been lauded by creationists and fans of intelligent design.

Global Warming.

Early in April, the Texas School Board voted on textbook language that   condemns global warming as a proven fact.   A chapter on "environmental systems" in a grade-school textbook will be affected.   According to The Examiner, "the Board of Education voted to change  existing state science standards to include the phrase 'analyze and evaluate different views on the existence of global warming.'"   The Examiner goes on to say that the decision flies in the face of accepted science.

An Ageless Universe.

In late March of   this year, Texas officially made the universe ageless.   The   Board of Education voted   to remove the universe's age from the state's educational standards which are used as source material for the state's school textbooks. Science blog io9 writes,

According to Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, this decision is a backdoor entrance for creationists and fans of intelligent design. "The goal here was to make science more tentative and vague so that teachers have room to tell students, 'This is only one explanation and the scientists are not even sure about it themselves' — which is, of course, utter nonsense."

New Loophole in Science Standards Helps Creationists.

New Science Magazine wrote an extensive review of the new science standards that were approved by the Texas Board of Education in March.   According to its article,

Anti-evolutionist Don McLeroy, a dentist and chair of the Texas State Board of Education, testified at Friday's hearing: "I disagree with these experts. Someone has got to stand up to experts."

New Scientist reports that the Discovery Institute, which is a proponent of intelligent design, has been heavily involved in the new educational standards.

A New Brand of Social Studies in the Works?

In an April 30, 2009, press release issued by the Texas Freedom Network, the Texas Board of Education is set to appoint a social studies curriculum expert panel.   Here's a portion of the release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2009

The Texas State Board of Education is set to appoint a social studies curriculum "expert" panel that includes  absurdly unqualified ideologues who are hostile to public education and argue that laws and public policies should be based on their narrow interpretations of the Bible.

TFN has obtained the names of "experts" appointed by far-right state board members. Those panelists will guide the revision of social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. They include David Barton of the fundamentalist, Texas-based  group WallBuilders, whose degree is in religious education, not the social sciences, and the Rev. Peter Marshall of Peter Marshall Ministries in Massachusetts, who suggests that California wildfires and Hurricane Katrina were divine punishments for tolerance of homosexuality.

The  two have argued that the Constitution doesn't protect separation of church and state and hold a variety of other extreme views related to religion, education and government, TFN President Kathy Miller said.

"It's absurd to suggest that Texas universities don't have accomplished scholars in the field who are more qualified than ideologues who share a narrow political agenda," Miller said. "What's next? Rush Limbaugh on the 'expert' panel? It's clear now that just appointing a new chairman won't end this board's outrageous efforts to politicize the education of our schoolchildren. It's time for the Legislature to make sweeping changes to the board and its control over what our kids learn in public schools."

"With Don McLeroy's confirmation hanging in the balance in the Senate and lawmakers considering 15 bills that would strip the state board of its authority, these board members continue trying to push extremist politics into Texas classrooms," she said. "It's as if they're daring the Legislature to call them on it."

Barton, former vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party, is a self-styled "historian" without any formal training in the field. He argues that separation of church and state is a "myth" and that the nation's laws should be based on Scripture. He says, for example, that the Bible forbids taxes on income and capital gains. Yet even such groups as Texas Baptists Committed and the Baptist Joint Committee have sharply criticized Barton's interpretations of the Constitution and history.

Barton also acknowledges having used in his publications and speeches nearly a dozen quotes he has attributed to the nation's Founders even though he can't identify any primary sources showing that they really said them.

Some state board members have criticized what they believe are efforts to overemphasize the contributions of minorities in the nation's history. It is alarming, then, that in 1991 Barton spoke at events hosted by groups tied to white supremacists. He later said he hadn't known the groups were "part of a Nazi movement."

In addition, Barton's WallBuilders Web site suggests as a "helpful" resource the National Association of Christian Educators/Citizens for Excellence in Education, an organization that calls public schools places of "social depravity" and "spiritual slaughter."

Sphere: Related Content

Related posts:

1. Texas Board of Education Debates Social Studies Curriculum
2. Texas Board Will Hold Hearings This Week to Rewrite History Textbooks
3. Religious News Verses: Prayer and Social Studies
4. Religious News Verses: Deep in the Heart of Texas
5. Evolution in Texas
6. More Texas School Book News and Commentary
7. Texas School Board Votes on the "Weaknesses of Evolution Theory"
8. Texas-Style Religious Indoctrination Could Mean a National Christian Agenda
9. Rewriting History – Deism Said To Be the Same as Christianity
10. PRESS RELEASE: TFN President: Curriculum Process Is Seriously Broken, Dominated by Politics and Incompetence

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