Don't penalize Texas students for any belief about science, bill says By EVA-MARIE AYALA [email protected]
Don’t believe in the theory of relativity? Students wouldn’t have to and could not be penalized for it in school under proposed legislation filed Friday. Teachers could not be penalized, either, if they reject plate tectonics or the kinetic theory of gases. The bill says that neither student nor teacher could be penalized for subscribing to any particular position on any scientific theories or hypotheses. "Students could claim they believe anything they wanted in anything in science and if that’s what they say, the teacher would be forced to give that student an A," said Steven Schafersman, president of Texas Citizens for Science. "That’s how bad this bill is written." But Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, who filed the bill, said it is not an out for students, because they must still be evaluated on course materials taught. "They can be lazy if they want to . . . but teachers are still in charge of the grading system," Christian said. The bill does not address evolution specifically, but that seems to be its target. Its goal is to reintroduce the ability to teach "weaknesses" of scientific theories. After two days of heated debate, the State Board of Education narrowly voted this winter to remove a requirement that Texas public schools teach weaknesses in the theory of evolution. The board is expected to finalize new science standards next week. Christian said he filed the bill to allow teachers to continue to teach the strengths and weaknesses of the theory of evolution. "If students have every opportunity to learn about every idea, it empowers students to have a better ability to debate," he said. "If they are exposed to and know the other side of things, they will be able to come back and debate that side." But Schafersman said scientists and science educators pushed for the weakness language to be removed because it is not based on science. He said the proposed legislation would allow educators to teach creationism, a biblical explanation of the origin of humans, if they wanted. "That is against the law," he said. "Every court case has said creationism is religion, and you can’t bring religion into schools." Schafersman said that for Texas to compete nationally and globally, the education standards must be based on "good science and not get bogged down with these religious interventions into our secular schools." He also said that Christian doesn’t understand that all science is theoretical. Supporters of the bill said teaching the strengths and weaknesses of evolution, which has been included in curriculum for the past two decades, has not hurt Texas, which they say is known internationally for medical schools and facilities. "The state is successful and will continue to be so," said Jonathan Saenz, a lobbyist for the Plano-based Free Market Foundation, which promotes Judeo-Christian values. "It’s important that we fix the curriculum to allow for scientific progress and debate." "The bill specifically allows students to be taught about a subject and, even though they might not personally agree with it themselves, they are taught to understand it," Saenz said. ------------------------------ *Evolution debate * The State Board of Education is expected to finalize science standards next week. The board is expected to hear further discussion in teaching the strengths and weaknesses of evolution on Wednesday. ------------------------------ *Education bills * On Friday, the last day to file bills, a few dozen education-related ones were submitted. Here are a few to watch. Power shift Four lawmakers filed a joint bill that would move much of the State Board of Education’s current responsibilities — including developing state curriculum and textbook selection — to the education commissioner. Principal spending State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, filed a bill that would limit how principals can spend campus discretionary funds raised at the school level from vending machine profits or through other means. Principals could use the funds only to directly benefit the general welfare, educational development and morale of students, which would not include staff development activities. Allergies issues One bill would require schools to have a plan to handle severe allergic reactions. The plan would include communicating individual student needs and training staff on how to respond during an emergency. Another bill would require schools to keep anaphylaxis medicine on hand. History lessons Proposed legislation by state Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, would require social-studies curriculum to include Latino and African-American history. EVA-MARIE AYALA, 817-390-7700 -- "Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges." - Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome. --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html --- _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
