Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The timing of this is perfect given the subject of my upcoming speech at the YearlyKos conference. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has appointed Don McLeroy, a serious Christian right ideologue, as chairman of the State Board of Education. That board has a long history of trying to force a religious right agenda on the schools in that state, from trying to weaken the teaching of evolution and get creationism in to science classrooms to the abstinence only programs in sex ed to trying to get rid of an environmental science textbook that discussed global warming.
This is a board that already includes the likes of Terri Leo, who makes Deborah Owens Fink in Ohio look like Carl Sagan. The Austin-American Statesman has details on McLeroy:
As chair, McLeroy leads a board of 10 Republicans and five Democrats. Divisions on the board aren't just partisan. McLeroy, a self-described social conservative, is one of eight Republicans who vote as a bloc on nearly all issues. He has a reputation for civility even while casting votes that are based more on ideology than on science or facts.In 2001, McLeroy and a majority of the board rejected the only Advanced Placement textbook for high school environmental science because its views on global warming and other events didn't comport with the beliefs of the board majority. The book wasn't factual and was anti-American and anti-Christian, the majority claimed. Meanwhile, dozens of colleges and universities were using the textbook, including Baylor University, the nation's largest Baptist college.
In 2003, McLeroy voted against approving biology textbooks that included a full-scale scientific account of evolutionary theory. The books were approved.
Looks like more of the same in Texas. My friends at the Texas Freedom Network have their work cut out for them, to be sure.
Comments
Can you give some contact information for the Texas Freedom Network, Ed? I live about an hour from Austin, I'd like to try and get involved with them if I can.
Thanks!
Posted by: Jeff Hebert | July 24, 2007 9:36 AM
Its good to know that an elected representative can still smile while violating the Constitution.
Because that's what is really important.
Posted by: Dave S. | July 24, 2007 10:34 AM
The biggest problem with Texas' bent is that textbook purchasing decisions are made at the state level, rather than by local districts and boards. The State of Texas (through its school board) is the second largest institutional purchaser of textbooks (after California) in the United States; if the Texas School Board objects to material in a textbook, textbook publishers are likely to remove the offending material in the next edition.
I googled for 'texas textbooks evolution' and found a whole collection of articles from a textbook battle in 2003. Even the DI was involved. I just can't believe we're still fighting this freakin' war. Fatigue is setting in.
Posted by: Elf M. Sternberg | July 24, 2007 10:56 AM
Elf, local control of school boards is also disastrous; need I remind you of Dover?
Posted by: valhar2000 | July 24, 2007 11:52 AM
Jeff-
http://www.tfn.org
Posted by: Ed Brayton | July 24, 2007 11:52 AM
Valhar: That's true, but it's also not relevant; the flow of power in that case is different. The school board chose a poor textbook, and the people of Dover had the power to correct them.
In this case, the school board doesn't need to "choose"; it can instead simply tell the publisher that all of the textbooks are unacceptable. They don't need to give reasons-- they can just ask that certain passages be removed. When every major textbook manufacturer in the country is trying to sell to Texas, and the Texas board signals what is and is not acceptable, the manufacturers go along. They don't want to lose sales.
The issue here is not that Texas children will told that Pandas and People is real science, or even that Explore Evolution is something other than a shillbook. The issue here is that the school board has the constitutional power to refuse any textbook that challenges what the kids hear in church, and there's really not a damn thing anyone can do about it.
Will it wreck Texas' chances of producing the next get Nobel prizewinner in biology? Sure. Does Texas care? Frak, no. To these people, the Nobel is an irrelevant reward: political power and the rewards of "eternity" are all they know.
Posted by: Elf M. Sternberg | July 24, 2007 12:00 PM
The 2003 textbook battles in Texas were one of the huge battles in the war with ID. They threw everything they could in to getting Texas to demand changes that would have inserted most of their arguments and positions into the textbooks, knowing that if Texas demanded them they would get them and those changes would be in textbooks nationwide. Thankfully, they failed.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | July 24, 2007 12:05 PM
@valhar2000
Wow that's a bold statement... So federal control of all schools is preferred? If one board makes a bad decision than the damage is limited to that district - not to all districts. It should also be pointed out that this one district out of thousands in the country fixed itself pretty darn quick. Tell me of one federal agency that has reversed course so quickly?
Posted by: yoshi | July 24, 2007 12:08 PM
I've always heard that the textbooks for the rest of the country are heavily influenced by who sits on the Ed Board in Texas. So I have a question: why don't other states import textbooks from Canada instead of relying on the unreliable books coming in from Texas? It would completely break the huge influence Texas has on the education in other states by doing so.
Anyone know why this cannot be done?
Posted by: Soldats | July 24, 2007 12:13 PM
So, looking down south from up hear in Canukastan, it seems like there'd be an opportunity for niche marketing (sad that complete and accurate science books would be a niche market.)
Assuming there are a lot of non-Texan school boards that aren't bothered by, or actively desire, biology books with the full details of evolution, couldn't some publisher product them, and market the fact they're not approved for use in Texas as a feature, not a bug? KInda like "Banned in Boston" as a sure fire way to increase sales?
They wouldn't have to state the books were "100% free of churchy fuckwittery!" - they could just state something like "A complete disscussion of modern biological and evolutionary theory from a science perspective" - smart board members would get the drift.
Posted by: Philip T | July 24, 2007 12:39 PM
Soldats, if a school board approves a book already approved in Texas, what right-wing nut in her correct mind could complain they aren't reactionary enough? Canadian books wouldn't have a chance . . .
That said, smile abated, publishers do try to provide workable texts. Four of the creationists on the Texas state board voted for evolution texts last time around. Alas, evidence is nuts on the board went around the process (illegally, but who is gonna prosecute?) and asked for "corrections of fact" that essentially cut out some of the best stuff.
The board didn't have much to say about the AP books -- way over their heads, and brilliantly defended by a high school student (named Hillis, as I recall), so they left them alone. Since the AP exam features a lot of hard questions on evolution directly, it would damage the state's reputation and ability to compete on the AP Biology exams if they mucked with those books.
But it will be a fight, most likely, again.
Posted by: Ed Darrell | July 24, 2007 2:35 PM
When I took the AP Bio exam in 1987 I had expected there to be a key essay question on some evolutionary topic, simply because it was so fundamental to biology (hm, does that make me an evolution fundamentalist?). So I studied up, concentrating on the topic. Sadly, not a one was offered. Fortunately, there was a question on the krebs cycle and electron transport chain which I had written an extensive paper on for Anatomy and Physiology.
Still, even twenty years ago I would have liked to have seen much more evolution covered in the exam. I cannot imagine that it has gotten better since then, but I have not seen once since, so it is really a wild-assed guess, or as my engineer friends would say, "an educated engineering estimate".
Posted by: Chris Anderson | July 24, 2007 6:30 PM
If it makes you feel better I'm pretty sure one of the essay questions when I took it six years ago dealt with evolution. I know several of the practice essays (which were questions from previous exams) also required some knowledge of evolution. Though I am sorry to say that the first time I encountered people who told me that didn't accept the science of evolution was in that class. Caught me by surprise as both were otherwise very intelligent.
Posted by: mcmillan | July 24, 2007 7:08 PM
I am from Texas, and will give a very brief account of my science education.
First an aside, and I have mentioned this in another post on this blog. In my younger years, we were led in the Lord's Prayer every morning at school.
When I hit the sciences at the high school level, evolution was really handled poorly. My teacher even said that he believed in changes over time, but he believed the Bible as the final authority, so tell our parents not to worry. Frankly, I wish there had been someone to scream, but there was not in that town.
Fortunately, I grew interested in science in general, and biology (my minor) in particular at university (also in Texas), and got a better education.
Now having made (some of) you cringe at my high school education, I must contrast my experience to my student teaching. I taught biology in a small, ultra conservative town. My supervising teacher was completely different, and did an excellent job of teaching biology. There were some in the town who hated him, and even a rumour that I heard while I was there that he was a satanist. But, he went right on doing what he was supposed to do: teaching biology.
Let's hope that the latter example is the rule not the exception...
On a personal note I apologize to my home state that I am not there still teaching biology. It would be the best way I could help fight this fight.
Posted by: scienceteacherinexile | July 26, 2007 7:33 AM
What are evolutionists afraid of? The more we study science, the more we have the option of ideas outside of the holy grail, evolution, the more we will learn. Stop trying to censor opposing voices. Teach evolution's strengths and weaknesses. Alot of things are unanswered in the idea of evolution. Stop your cenosrship.
Posted by: Winnie | March 7, 2009 12:27 AM
Tell ya what, Winnie, you creationists come up with a theory that stands up to scrutiny* and us "evilutionists" will teach it. How about that for compromise? - DJ
*I mean you've had 150 years already, how much time do you need?
Posted by: DingoJack | March 7, 2009 12:46 AM