Comments on: Evolution Is Optional

By: Robert Luhn

Robert Luhn — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:57:53 +0000

Just FYI…in light of this….you might want to check out a hot meeting scheduled this week in Austin. The Board of Education will be wrangling with science standards–notably the C3A standards which focus on the “process skills” relating to learning about evolution.

The Board meeting is at: 9 a.m., Wednesday, 1/19, Room 1-104 of the TEA building, 1701 N. Congress, Austin, TX. I have a feeling the preliminary stuff will take a few hours…the public hearing part should get underway around noon.

Note: there will be a live audio feed of the hearing. Go to the Texas Education Agency Web site (http://www.tea.state.tx.us/) tomorrow, click on State Board of Education link in the left column. Then scroll down to find the link to the live audio feed. Keep in mind that the number of folks who can link is limited because of server limitations at TEA. But if you have trouble linking to the feed, keep trying every once in a while.

–Robert Luhn, National Center for Science Education

By: Rosalia

Rosalia — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:23:16 +0000

I am a TXVA parent. I am also a Texas Observer subscriber. I was very upset when I read this article. My middleschooler has been enrolled at TXVA since the day they were allowed to set up in Texas and I was unaware that this was going on. One of the reasons I left the public school system was to escape Cristian fascist loons like Lisa Crabtree. I feel sorry for Lisa’s children though. They are doomed to live a life of ignorance,fear and hate. I have had the opportunity to personally meet many of the parents enrolled at TXVA at community building functions sponsored by the school. Parents I have met have come from different cultural and religious backgrounds. Everyone I have met has been open and accepting of others. I am here to tell you that Lisa is the exception and not the rule at TXVA. I am very happy with the curriculum of TXVA, especially science, which is quite progressive and reviews evolution throughout the different sciences - not only biology but earth science as well. In order to do well scholasticaly at TXVA students must have a strong command of the different subjects. Tests are not optional. So, if Lisa puts her children to the test with blinders on, then that will be reflected in her children’s scores.

By: State Funded School Doesn’t Require Evolution « New Discoveries & Comments About Creationism

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:41:18 +0000

[…] Funded School Doesn’t Require Evolution The Texas Observer Reports: Online schools often cater to homeschooling parents, many of whom are Christian conservatives who […]

By: Leo

Leo — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:35:25 +0000

Anything that is related to religion should not be taught ihn public schools period.

By: Tony Whitson

Tony Whitson — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:46:10 +0000

Ed writes:

This is a reversal of position for Bennett.

Although Steven’s right that Bennett may not have been involved in deciding this position by K12, the more fundamental reversal of position came when Bennett switch from being a critic of virtual education as a substitute for live, in person, education to being an entrepreneur cashing in on the opportunity.

Still not a virtue, in my book.

By: Larry Fafarman

Larry Fafarman — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:14:55 +0000

This on-line charter school is often used in home-schooling, where there is no way to enforce a requirement that students learn about evolution.

–“Parents could opt out of those classes but their child is still held responsible for learning the curriculum,” said TEA spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe. “[T]hey need to do so with the understanding that their child could still be tested over that material.”–

The charter school’s website’s statement about evolution should carry that warning but does not. Parents who skip the evolution lessons should know that they are taking a big risk — for example, the College Board’s tests on biology ask a lot of questions about evolution.

–”we teach evolution as a theory broadly accepted in the scientific community as an organizing theory of biology.”–

The idea that evolution is “an organizing theory of biology” or is “central to biology” is just plain wrong — there are lots of things in biology where evolution is irrelevant. One can be a great biologist without knowing anything about evolution (though there are some areas of biology where a knowledge of evolution is necessary — e.g., cladistic taxonomy).

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:37:59 +0000

Hey Ed,

Maybe you should do your homework…Bennett is no longer officially associated with K12. He may have had his own ideas of what was necessary in high school but when it comes to homeschooling are you honestly so dense as to think that creationist parents will willfully teach evolution? Evolution is included in the curriculum bc Bennett and the K12 creators know it to be critical. But this starts in the home with the parents. If a parent does not opt out of teaching evolution then it will be taught. So save your cliche comments about Bennett and virtue. The guy wrote a book that inspired people to act better, is that really such a crime to you? Does that mean he thought he was without flaw? I doubt it. So chill out, get a life.

By: Ed Darrell

Ed Darrell — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:58:40 +0000

This is a reversal of position for Bennett. When he was Secretary of Education, he wrote that knowledge of evolution was essential to a good education in the public schools, especially in his proposed ideal curriculum for a public high school, James Madison High School. I remember, because I was the director of the group that published the book, and my staff had to defend Bennett’s position.

Why is Bill Bennett going lax on education? The story of how he caved in to pleas for lax academics will not make the collection of stories of virtue for the 21st century.