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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAre our schools closer to proclaiming extinction and heliocentrism myths of the "liberal media"?
Creationists advising the Texas Education Agency, the states board of education, are no longer even trying to hide the fact that they want to insert pseudo-scientific material grounded in religious beliefs into public school science textbooks. Terrence Stutz of the Dallas Morning News reports that evolution detractors appointed to the review boards are urging the textbook publishers to ignore the Supreme Court (along with science) and push Creationism, or be rejected.
One of the panelists reviewing the biology textbooks, a nutritionist, said that creation science based on biblical principles should be incorporated into every biology book that is up for adoption.
The National Center for Science Education and Texas Freedom Network found that the Creationists on the textbook review boards have also:
asserted that "no transitional fossils have been discovered"
insisted that there is no evidence for a human influence on the carbon cycle
claimed that there is no evidence about the effect of climate change on species diversity
promoted a book touting "intelligent design" creationism as a reliable source of scientific information
denied that recombination and genetic drift are evolutionary mechanisms
mischaracterized experiments on the peppered moth as "discredited" and as "fabrication(s)
Due to the size of the Texas market, textbooks tailored to the states standards could be used across the country, making the ramifications of the Creationist influence even greater.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/texas-conservatives-demand-science-textbooks-incorporate-creation-science-based-biblical-pri
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)This is one example of why.
hunter
(38,312 posts)The first few chapters really ought to be heavy on evolution, instead they tend isolate evolution in a single place where it can be skipped over by teachers and school districts who are uncomfortable with it.
"Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" -- Theodosius Dobzhansky
That ought to be the the first sentence of every high school biology text and any student or parent who can't live with that should be asked to leave.