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Win for Science Education in Texas!

MattusMaximus

Intellectual Gladiator
MattusMaximus
Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
15,948
W00T!!! :D

Split vote upholds Texas education board ruling to ax evolution 'strengths and weaknesses' rule
A last-ditch effort by social conservatives to require that Texas teachers cover the "weaknesses" in the theory of evolution in science classes was rejected by the State Board of Education Thursday in a split vote.

Board members deadlocked 7-7 on a motion to restore a long-time curriculum rule that "strengths and weaknesses" of all scientific theories – notably Charles Darwin's theory of evolution – be taught in science classes and covered in textbooks for those subjects.

Voting for the requirement were the seven Republican board members aligned with social conservative groups. Against the proposal were three other Republicans and four Democrats.

The tie vote upheld a tentative decision by the board in January to delete the strengths-and-weaknesses rule in the new curriculum standards for science classes that will be in force for the next decade. ...
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We aren't out of the woods just yet. The NCSE is reporting that some creationist legislators might attempt a backdoor maneuver - more detail on that here - but this does look like a big win.

This is an even bigger win when viewed in the full context: that Texas science standards often dictate how science textbooks are written for the rest of the country.
 
Sort of. Some of the other amendments they passed are almost as bad.

The non-creationist board members seem really naive about the motivations of the creationists.
 
What amendments passed?

ETA: Any Mods watching, I think I stuck this thread in the wrong place. If someone could move it to Sci-Tech that would be good.
 
Hey, given how things have gone in Texas the last 10 years or so, it is a big win - trust me. Now we just need to build off of it.
 
The problem is the herd mentality of "public education": one truth for all (even if it's false). Without government control of schools, people would be free to pursue the individual education solutions that suit them best.

You should get to decide how to educate your children, not a violent entity that's primarily concerned with retaining an strengthening its grip on power. Without educational freedom, all other freedoms are meaningless!
 
Ugh. I forgot how much Barbara Cargill is the Jeff to Don McElroy's Mutt.
http://www.barbaracargill.com/bio.htm
Petty innocuous huh? Then read this.
http://www.barbaracargill.com/

edit to add
http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/index.php/2009/03/26/a-pyrrhic-victory/
Cargill snuck through an amendment that struck a reference to the Universe being 14 billion years old. “It clarifies this for our teachers to let students know that there are differing theories for the age of the Universe,” Cargill said, adding that she was simply trying to add a sense of “humility” to the science standards.
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Humility? :rolleyes:

I would love, love LOVE to have a Crevo discussion with this women. I doubt she could debate her way out of a wet paper bag with a blowtorch and directions.
 
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What a mess. Some of the blame also goes to the idiots who voted for these people and the ignorant governor who appointed the worst one as chairperson of the state's education board. Texas needs more embarrassing national publicity over this.
 
Alex Libman said:
The problem is the herd mentality of "public education": one truth for all (even if it's false). Without government control of schools, people would be free to pursue the individual education solutions that suit them best.

You should get to decide how to educate your children, not a violent entity that's primarily concerned with retaining an strengthening its grip on power. Without educational freedom, all other freedoms are meaningless!
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Violent entity? That's a bit extreme...but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. AFAIK people are free to send their children to non-public schools, home school them etc. I just worry your version of educational freedom might frequently equate to a freedom from education.

edited for clarity
 
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Alex Libman said:
The problem is the herd mentality of "public education": one truth for all (even if it's false). Without government control of schools, people would be free to pursue the individual education solutions that suit them best.
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What's the point of requiring an education if we are just going to attend those schools that teach whatever it is that happens to make us feel all warm and cuddly? Seriously?

National standards are IMPORTANT, and without them we WILL have a horde of students who enter the world utterly convinced that creationism is scientific, and that it is taken seriously in the scientific world.

You should get to decide how to educate your children, not a violent entity that's primarily concerned with retaining an strengthening its grip on power. Without educational freedom, all other freedoms are meaningless!
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With the educational freedom of which you write, education is meaningless!

We ought teach that which we have best reason to believe is most accurate. If we fail to do this, we're just wasting time and money.
 
Before this derail gets too far, let me ask that people stick to the topic of the Board of Education decision in Texas. If you wish to start a general discussion about the role of government in education, please start a new thread for it, either here or in the Education Forum.

Thank you.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Tricky
 
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For those interested in reading it all, here is a very thorough blog entry on the final day of voting by the Texas BoEd. These two paragraphs summarize it all...

What is the bottom line? Did we win or lose? Neither. We got rid of the worst language, but a great deal of qualifying language remains. I am not going to claim either victory or defeat. I realize that Casey Luskin of Discovery Institute will declare complete, unqualified victory, but it is not that for them. Neither is it for us. The standards adopted were generally good, but there are several that are flawed, fortunately most in minor ways that textbook authors and publishers can deal with. I think we can work around the few flawed standards. But the point is that there shouldn't be ANY flawed standards. The science standards as submitted by the science writing teams were excellent and flaw-free. All the flaws were added by politically unscrupulous SBOE members with an extreme right-wing religious agenda to support Creationism. ...

... The policy (science standards) that resulted are not the best they could be. They are acceptable but could have been pseudoscience- and Creationism influence-free. However, I can also say the standards could be much worse. The votes were so close, and several members switched their votes back and forth several times, sometimes voting with the antiscience radical right wing members and sometimes with the pro-science members, that anything could have happened. I suppose I should be grateful the results are not worse.
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Well the ground rules have been drawn up for the real fight: textbook adoption. 2 years for both sides to gear up for a bigger fight.
 
I am more dusturbed that seven of the fourteen State Board of Education members disagreed with the theory to vote no.
 
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