We have now had our first look at changes publishers have submitted in response to objections — many of them attacks on evolution and climate change science — raised by official state review teams evaluating new science textbooks for Texas. And we have very encouraging news: All 14 publishers are refusing to water down or compromise instruction […]
textbooks
TFN Is Featured in New Radio Documentary about the Public Education Culture Wars in Texas
Austin public radio station KUT is airing and streaming online a new documentary about the right’s long-running culture war over public education in Texas. “The Long Game: Texas’ Ongoing Battle for the Direction of the Classroom,” by award-winning producer Trey Kay, looks at the ongoing political witch hunt over CSCOPE as well as the divisive […]
'What else does the Bible say about dinosaurs?'
The audio above is almost as amusing as the clip from “The Revisionaries” in which former Texas State Board of Education Chair Don McLeroy uses a cardboard model to describe how all the animals were able to fit on Noah’s Ark. You know, this one, where at the end all the children pretty much say […]
Textbooks, Sex and How Texas Has Hijacked Public Policy in America
New York Times columnist Gail Collins has a new book coming, As Texas Goes…, which looks at how right-wing politics and other shenanigans in Texas have hijacked public policy across the country. You can read two extended excerpts from Collins book (due out this month): one on the textbook wars here and another on sex […]
Texas Science Education Battle in 2013
After several years of especially divisive “culture war” battles over what Texas public school students should learn about evolution, history and other subjects, the State Board of Education last week decided that it will adopt new science textbooks for all schools in 2013. The new adoption schedule also has the board approving textbooks for history […]