The End of Christian America

[PDH]

Do the school boards in Texas have those holes drilled into them to make them sting more?  Brain might be interested.

[Malthus]

On the other, you have the Texas schoolboard dismantling science education in the state so as to avoid offending the YEC crowd.

There are zillions of school boards in Texas.  The only one that dismantles science education is probably in a rural district that never really taught it to begin with.

There is no State school board.

In spite of any actual facts you may present, I am gonna continue to view Texas through the lens of the most retarded thing any backwoods hick Texan has ever said or done. I sorta picture the whole state as inhabited by Yoseminie Sam look-alikes, only carrying Bibles and stomping on science textbooks.

Just because it's funny. 

[Ed Anger]

On the other, you have the Texas schoolboard dismantling science education in the state so as to avoid offending the YEC crowd.

There are zillions of school boards in Texas.  The only one that dismantles science education is probably in a rural district that never really taught it to begin with.

There is no State school board.

In spite of any actual facts you may present, I am gonna continue to view Texas through the lens of the most retarded thing any backwoods hick Texan has ever said or done. I sorta picture the whole state as inhabited by Yoseminie Sam look-alikes, only carrying Bibles and stomping on science textbooks.

Just because it's funny. 

More like a state filled with Speedy Gonzales. And the fat slow one that I can't remember the name of.

[Malthus]

On the other, you have the Texas schoolboard dismantling science education in the state so as to avoid offending the YEC crowd.

There are zillions of school boards in Texas.  The only one that dismantles science education is probably in a rural district that never really taught it to begin with.

There is no State school board.

In spite of any actual facts you may present, I am gonna continue to view Texas through the lens of the most retarded thing any backwoods hick Texan has ever said or done. I sorta picture the whole state as inhabited by Yoseminie Sam look-alikes, only carrying Bibles and stomping on science textbooks.

Just because it's funny. 

More like a state filled with Speedy Gonzales. And the fat slow one that I can't remember the name of.

The fat slow one gets stomped at the border by Yoseminie Sam. Speedy, as his name suggests, escapes to sell amphetemines. 

[Viking]

More like a state filled with Speedy Gonzales. And the fat slow one that I can't remember the name of.

Jaron

[Malthus]

More like a state filled with Speedy Gonzales. And the fat slow one that I can't remember the name of.

Jaron

[vinraith]

On the other, you have the Texas schoolboard dismantling science education in the state so as to avoid offending the YEC crowd.

There are zillions of school boards in Texas.  The only one that dismantles science education is probably in a rural district that never really taught it to begin with.

There is no State school board.

That's odd, I wonder what these guys do for a living, then?

It IS the state board of education, which just adopted new science standards weakening the language surrounding evolution, completely removing discussion of the age of the universe, and doing assorted other grievous harms to science education in your state. Try to keep up.

[Ed Anger]

More like a state filled with Speedy Gonzales. And the fat slow one that I can't remember the name of.

Jaron

[vinraith]

On the other, you have the Texas schoolboard dismantling science education in the state so as to avoid offending the YEC crowd.

There are zillions of school boards in Texas.  The only one that dismantles science education is probably in a rural district that never really taught it to begin with.

There is no State school board.

In spite of any actual facts you may present, I am gonna continue to view Texas through the lens of the most retarded thing any backwoods hick Texan has ever said or done. I sorta picture the whole state as inhabited by Yoseminie Sam look-alikes, only carrying Bibles and stomping on science textbooks.

Just because it's funny. 

It's really, really not. Especially since it IS state-wide, and Texas is a large enough consumer of text books that their education standards affect the entire country to some degree.

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/03/28/0328sboe.html

[The Nickname Who Was Thursday]

What he hears: "blah blah CHOCOLATE blah blah blah".

At long last a god I can pray to. The Holy Trinity of Beer, Pizza and Chocolate.

Are you a woman? 

[ulmont]

It's really, really not. Especially since it IS state-wide, and Texas is a large enough consumer of text books that their education standards affect the entire country to some degree.

Quite a lot, actually.  Texas is the second-biggest textbook buyer (after California), and most textbooks are written to be acceptable to California and Texas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/29/arts/textbook-publishers-learn-avoid-messing-with-texas.html

[vinraith]

It's really, really not. Especially since it IS state-wide, and Texas is a large enough consumer of text books that their education standards affect the entire country to some degree.

Quite a lot, actually.  Texas is the second-biggest textbook buyer (after California), and most textbooks are written to be acceptable to California and Texas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/29/arts/textbook-publishers-learn-avoid-messing-with-texas.html

Yup, it's a matter of national importance. What really scares me is that they apparently did it so quietly that a generally intelligent and well informed Texan like Valmy had no idea it was going on. This should be getting national news coverage, that it's not even getting state coverage is disturbing.

[Valmy]

That's odd, I wonder what these guys do for a living, then?

Well ok that is new.  It used to be the TEA was managed by a few appointed people and had only very limited power.  It looks like that was reformed recently.  That sorta makes me nervous as it threatens the historical independence of the districts.  I suppose it is being done to counter the idiocy that mostly resulted from the historical independence of the districts

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/sboe/schedule/2009/march/full_board/thur_5_ch112_a2.pdf

Ok there is the new science policy.

Science concepts. The student knows the scientific theories of cosmology. The student is expected to:
(A) research and describe the historical development of the Big Bang Theory, including red shift, cosmic microwave background radiation, and other supporting evidence;
(B) research and describe current theories of the evolution of the universe, including estimates for the age of the universe; and
(C) research and describe scientific hypotheses of the fate of the universe, including open and closed universes and the role of dark matter and dark energy.

So um...how are they going to teach the Big Bang theory without mentioning the age of the universe?

Science concepts. The student knows the characteristics and life cycle of stars. The student is expected to:
(A) identify the characteristics of main sequence stars, including surface temperature, age, relative size, and composition;
(B) characterize star formation in stellar nurseries from giant molecular clouds, to protostars, to the development of main sequence stars;
(C) evaluate the relationship between mass and fusion on the dying process and properties of stars;
(D) differentiate among the end states of stars, including white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes;
(E) compare how the mass and gravity of a main sequence star will determine its end state as a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole;
(F) relate the use of spectroscopy in obtaining physical data on celestial objects such as temperature, chemical composition, and relative motion; and
(G) use the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to plot and examine the life cycle of stars from birth to death.

I might not be a cosmologist but I presume the life cycle of a star is longer than six thousand years.

Science concepts. The student knows evolutionary theory is a scientific explanation for the unity and diversity of life. The student is expected to:
(A) analyze and evaluate how evidence of common ancestry among groups is provided by the fossil record, biogeography, and homologies, including anatomical, molecular, and developmental;
(B) analyze and evaluate the sufficiency or insufficiency of common ancestry to explain the sudden appearance, stasis, and sequential nature of groups in the fossil record;
(C) analyze and evaluate how natural selection produces change in populations, not individuals;
(D) analyze and evaluate how the elements of natural selection, including inherited variation, the potential of a population to produce more offspring than can survive, and a finite supply of environmental resources, result in differential reproductive success;
(E) analyze and evaluate the relationship of natural selection to adaptation and to the development of diversity in and among species; and
(F) analyze and evaluate the effects of other evolutionary mechanisms, including genetic drift, gene flow, mutation, and recombination.

Well...if the teacher is teaching a group of science students I think he or she should have no problem teaching the students all they need to know about evolution and the age of the universe with those guidlines.

[Viking]

What he hears: "blah blah CHOCOLATE blah blah blah".

At long last a god I can pray to. The Holy Trinity of Beer, Pizza and Chocolate.

Are you a woman? 

No, I just like chocolate.

[vinraith]

Well...if the teacher is teaching a group of science students I think he or she should have no problem teaching the students all they need to know about evolution and the age of the universe with those guidlines.

This isn't about the teachers that want to teach science, it's about weakening standards so that those teachers with an ideological agenda can weaken those elements of scientific education that conflict with their dogma.

But as long as you and the Discovery Institute are both pleased with the new standards I suppose everything will be fine.