What happens in Texas doesn't stay in Texas. That state is a sizeable consumer of public school textbooks, and it's likely that if it waters down its science standards, textbook publishers all over the country will follow suit. This makes every American school hostage to the caprices of a few benighted Texas legislators.What's next? Since there are many who deny the Holocaust, can we expect legislation requiring history classes to discuss the "strengths and weaknesses" of the idea that Nazis persecuted Jews? Should we teach our children astrology in their psychology classes as an alternative theory of human behaviour? And, given the number of shamans in the world, shouldn't their views be represented in medical schools?
Methinks that this is not quite the problem that he sees, but it would be interesting to see if some teacher taught holocaust denial as a legitimate position and then defended it as "critical evaluation of a theory." That would certainly cause a rethink of the standards, although probably not the ones involving science. He is correct about the pervasive nature of the Texas textbook scene, which means that we should take his warnings perhaps more seriously than I am.
He is correct about the pervasive nature of the Texas textbook scene, which means that we should take his warnings perhaps more seriously than I am.
ReplyDeleteYep, Texas and California are the really heavy hitters. I suppose you could also throw in New York and Florida for good measure. I would guess those four states determine a good 90% or so of what goes into U.S. textbooks.
Another reason I dislike the public school system.
Isn't it kind of strange that there is a pervasive left-leaning agenda in the NEA and yet we seem to be struggling with this distinctly antediluvian problem in some regions. One wonders if this is reactionary in some ways to what many parents see going on in the public schools that they don't like. And you are right--one more reason.
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