Remember the name Zack Kopplin. Rice University sophomore Zack Kopplin says he has been called the Antichrist, a godless liberal and, bizarrely, the cause of Hurricane Katrina. Kopplin, 19, has gained notoriety for championing the fight against his home state of Louisiana’s 2008 law that made it easier for teachers to introduce creationist textbooks into [...]
Posts Tagged ‘evolution’
Texas Freedom Network’s guide to the SBOE elections
The Texas Freedom Network has put out a useful little voter’s guide to the 2012 State Board of Education elections, which covers a range of topics from creationism and climate change to bullying and SBOE procedures. You might look at the answers that the candidates who responded submitted and think “Hey, cool, everyone is basically [...]
Perry gives another middle finger to public education
It’s a twofer, actually. Here’s one. Gov. Rick Perry named Michael Williams the new commissioner of the Texas Education Agency Monday. A fixture of Texas Republican politics — and a former general counsel to the Republican Party of Texas — Williams resigned from the Texas Railroad Commission in 2011 after serving more than a decade [...]
SBOE manages to not screw up science supplements
Baby steps. The quietude of yesterday’s State Board of Education meeting came to a screeching halt during today’s final vote over supplemental science materials. After a unanimous preliminary vote on Thursday, the board appeared split over alleged errors in how evolution was addressed in a high school biology submission from Holt McDougal. A board-appointed reviewer [...]
Another SBOE primary fight to watch
I’ve mentioned before that the GOP primary for SBOE District 5 is worth watching, but I didn’t know much about it at that time. This Statesman article helps to fill in the blanks. The brouhaha over the teaching of evolution in the science curriculum caught the attention of some in the San Antonio business community, [...]
Chris Comer appeals lawsuit dismissal
I had lost track of Chris Comer, the former director of science curriculum for the Texas Education Agency, who resigned under pressure for sending out email regarding a lecture that debunked “intelligent design” since she filed a wrongful termination lawsuit over this. The NCSE brings an update on her status. Chris Comer, whose lawsuit challenging [...]
Weekend link dump for May 3
It was the flu pandemic, and it swept the whole world wide… And yes, I remember the 1976 swine flu vaccination debacle. If only there had been Twitter in 1918. Doesn’t anybody read “The Masque of the Red Death” any more? By the way, this swine flu outbreak serves as another reason why studying evolution [...]
Win some, lose some for science
That’s the basic conclusion to draw after the three-day circus that was the now-concluded SBOE hearings in Austin. TFN Insider sums it up: TFN President Kathy Miller: Texas State Board of Education Adopts Flawed Science Standards The word “weaknesses” no longer appears in the science standards. But the document still has plenty of potential footholds [...]
The “strengths and weaknesses” showdown
Back in January, the State Board of Education somewhat surprisingly voted to remove anti-science “strengths and weaknesses” language from the curriculum. That was only a preliminary vote, however, and today is the day that the hearings begin for the final vote. The Texas Freedom Network gives a preview. After more than a year of work [...]
“Strengths and weaknesses” rears its head again
I know we thought that the current round of anti-evolutionism was in remission once the effort to change the science textbooks by the State Board of Education fell short. Sadly, these things never truly go away, and where the SBOE failed State Rep. Wayne Christian will try again with HB4224, which would put the bogus [...]
Evolution in action
A common refrain I hear from scientists when another political controversy over the teaching of evolution arises is that they need to do a better job of explaining what they do and why it matters. Well, when the scientists get serious about that, I suggest they give the Chron’s Eric Berger a call, because as [...]
Update on yesterday’s evolution happenings
In the comments to yesterday’s post about the vote taken by the State Board of Education that stripped out “strengths and weaknesses” language about evolution, Martha noted that there was another vote on this to be taken today. I haven’t seen any newspaper coverage of that, but according to TFN insider and Thoughts from Kansas, [...]
Evolution remains legal in Texas
Whew! That was a close one. In a major defeat for evolution critics, a sharply divided State Board of Education voted Thursday to follow the advice of a panel of science educators and drop a long-time requirement that “weaknesses” in the theory of evolution be taught in high school science classes. Under the science curriculum [...]
You there! Stop evolving this minute!
Someone once said that no one’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. I’d extend that observation to note that no one’s intelligence or education is safe when the SBOE is in session. For those who want the gory details of today’s farce hearings, I’ll point you to the Texas [...]