Although my previous post highlights what the Texas 2008 Republican Platform says about “Theories of Origin,” the biggest headline in the Education pages of that platform is surely their statement that
The No Child Left Behind Act has been a massive failure and should be abolished.
Recall that this law was George W. Bush’s signature piece of [...]
Category Archives: blog
Texas GOP: NCLB “a massive failure, should be abolished”
June 22, 2008 – 12:06 pm
TX GOP 2008 platform on Education
June 22, 2008 – 11:51 am
The Republican Party of Texas has now posted its State Party Platform for 2008.
I have also excerpted and posted here the four pages of that platform with the Preamble, Principles, and positions on Education.
As usual the Texas GOP takes interesting positions on many things, but in this post I’ll just quote their statement on “theories [...]
The Simpsons evolution clip (restored)
June 12, 2008 – 11:08 am
In an earlier post, I had a link to this clip on YouTube; but then it became unavailable on YouTube.
Here it is again now, but with a little advertising.
¿ against teaching the controversies (or “strengths and weaknesses”) ?
June 10, 2008 – 2:16 pm
While the ridicule is well deserved, I want to take exception to something possibly implied in Curmudgeon’s response, where he says that “High school students don’t know how to reach ‘their own conclusions’ about science. That’s why they’re in school! That’s why we call them students! “
ICR appeals TX decision against creationist grad degree for science teachers
June 3, 2008 – 2:43 pm
The Institute for Creation Research has announced its appeal seeking reversal of the decision by the Texas higher education board against accreditation for its distance education masters degree in “science education,” which would presumable have qualified its graduates for certification as science teachers in Texas (and, they would hope, licensing as science teachers in other [...]
Creation Science goes to China
June 3, 2008 – 1:33 pm
As the Institute for Creation Research has announced its appeal of the Texas decision not to approve its distance learning graduate degree program in science education, which would have led to accreditation of its graduates as high school science teachers in Texas, an interesting view of the Institute’s global ambitions can be seen in a [...]
Bradley: Teachers “got spanked” by Texas Bd. of Ed.
June 3, 2008 – 1:05 pm
Added June 6, 2008:
NY Times: Opponents of Evolution Adopting a New Strategy
Steven Schafersman, President, Texas Citizens for Science: Critical Review that covers developments reported in the NY Times article and the article (linked below) by Gary Scharer, as well as reaction by Intelligent Design proponents.
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A story by Gary Scharrer for the San Antonio Express-News reports [...]
TX School Bd member seeks replacement of Bd chair
May 26, 2008 – 5:29 pm
The previous post on the “Texas English / Language Arts standards debacle” has raised questions about intentionality — whether this just shows incompetence, or whether the right-wing board leadership and majority are acting with nefarious intent.
A May 21 article by Gary Scharrer for the Houston Chronicle is suggestive, I think. It reports that in a [...]
Texas ELAR standards debacle (evolution next?)
May 24, 2008 – 11:39 pm
The Texas State Board of Education’s shocking action Friday (May 23, 2008) in adopting new standards for K-12 English/Language Arts is being viewed by some as a harbinger of things to come for the new science standards, which are the next to be revised.
new study: 1 of 8 HS science teachers teach creationism
May 20, 2008 – 4:12 pm
This new study reports that “Of the 25% of teachers who devoted time to creationism or intelligent design, nearly half agreed or strongly agreed that they teach creationism as a “valid scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species.”
evolution disproved on GodTube
May 13, 2008 – 10:44 pm
There’s a devastating disproof of evolution at
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=817b7893bcdeed13799b
I had decided not to bother blogging about this, but that work’s been done for us by The Sensuous Curmudgeon.
Expelled — approaching extinction?
May 13, 2008 – 8:09 pm
My guess is that Expelled will not survive out on the surface and in daylight. It might not be able to survive at all without some mutation to accommodate pressure from the legal environment — but after such mutation, the film will survive in dark, dank, cavernous environments; but the predators that feed upon such fare will still roam free to infect other populations with this malicious virus.
Curriculum … also not just “Le programme d’études”
May 11, 2008 – 6:07 pm
The previous post complains that Curriculum is not just “el plan de estudios,” despite the mechanical translation by the Google translator.
It turns out that the same problem appears in Google’s French translations of “curriculum.” Although the title, at least, is translated from What is curriculum? — Some Observations by Maxine Greene to Quel est curriculum? [...]
Curriculum: ¡ not just “el plan de estudios” !
May 10, 2008 – 8:22 pm
Today somebody used the Google translator to get a Spanish translation of the blog post here on Journey, Map, or Territory? (some observations by John Dewey).
I was curious to see the translation. When I did, I saw the link to the previous post, with the title translated as
¿Qué es el plan de estudios? — Algunas [...]
genetic factors in political orientation?
May 6, 2008 – 8:18 pm
An article by Jim Giles published in New Scientist, and posted by the Center for Genetics and Society, surveys a variety of studies leading some people to see genetic factors in political inclinations, including liberal v. conservative, and likelihood to participate or not.
The studies include twin studies, gene studies and personality studies. This calls for [...]
Documentation re: Texas rejects creation science teaching degree
May 6, 2008 – 6:30 pm
On April 24 the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board denied an application from the Institute for Creation Research [ ICR ] for certification of its distance education program for a masters degree in “science education,” which would have meant certification of its graduates as science teachers. The following Documents are now posted at the TCEHB [...]
Resources on Ben Stein’s Expelled
May 6, 2008 – 11:32 am
In addition to “Expelled Exposed,” a page maintained by NCSE with links to coverage on Ben Stein’s movie, the pro-creationist Access Research Network (ARN) also has a page of links to resources. The ARN page may be more comprehensive, including links to items both favorable and critical toward the movie.
