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UPDATE: My daughter told us that the teacher says that he will continue to use the textbook. This is despite the repeated statements by the Principal and the School Director that he would cease using the book this week and start using the approved and purchased textbook. The teacher made a point of staring at my 8th grader when he made a strong statement that the book is teaching "human ecology" and not life science or physical science.

The so-called "fundamental laws and principles of human ecology" that the entire book uses as its foundational basis are quite dubious. They are unsourced and any attempt at locating a legitimate source for the opinion-base pseudo science blather have only pointed to bizarre sources like "EcoMagic" and other witchcraft/wiccan resources.

The students in the class are supposed to turn in their written essays and make an oral presentation on the "principles" tomorrow. My daughter will likely not be ready to do so, but we'll see what she has ready by then. We will attend the class as, I'm sure, will the principal and the director.

If this problem is not resolved to our satisfaction tomorrow, I'm going to publish here the name of the school and the contact information for all involved parties. Maybe some outside pressure would be useful. Also, I am close friends with a conservative radio talk show host in nearby Tucson and I'm sure a few investigative phone calls from him on this issue would help too. Then, putting the situation on his show would further add pressure to the teacher and the school to fix this. If we still can't budge them, I'll shop this around to some of the national level radio talk show hosts and conservative magazines to see if they're interested in covering it.

I was OK with having them remove the book from the 8th grade and transition to another book in the 9th and 10th when they were ready and had sufficient textbook resources to replace it. I'm not longer satisfied with that solution and will insist upon the book being removed from the school entirely.

spiff, there are plenty of radio folks who follow FR thread. you might want to try Tony Snow. There is a thread of his show every morning.

BTW keep tabs on the comments that this teacher makes to your child.

Have no fear the FReepers will follow through if this guy keeps up with this game.

A suggestion take this to the next step to the Dept. of Education for your state. I am sure they would be very interested to hear the text that he is using. As I told you earlier all lesson plans must be recorded and must follow local and state requirements.