High School Student Raises Questions About Textbook Bias

FOXNews.com ^ | April 8, 2008 | Associated Press

[14erClimb]

WASHINGTON — Talk about a civics lesson: A high-school senior has raised questions about political bias in a popular textbook on U.S. government, and legal scholars and top scientists say the teen's criticism is well-founded.

They say "American Government" by conservatives James Wilson and John Dilulio presents a skewed view of topics from global warming to separation of church and state. The publisher now says it will review the book, as will the College Board, which oversees college-level Advanced Placement courses used in high schools.

[BenLurkin]

No sunspots today? (April 9) Weird isn't it?

[Amelia]

If he and his supporters (at AgitProp Media) are blindly parroting the “overwhelming scientific communist community 99.9% assures us that man is responsbile for global warming and can change the atmosphere for good and well as bad...” then he isn’t “thinking” on his own at all.

He's comparing what he reads in the textbook with what he reads outside of that classroom and drawing conclusions. He may not be thinking in the same way you do, but he is thinking.

There's an old saying that is something like, "if a man isn't a liberal when he's young, he has no heart; if he isn't a conservative when he's older, he has no brain."

I think there's hope for this kid.

[Amelia]

Oh, great job by your daughter and her friend! I hope they do as well at the next level! :-D

[CottonBall]

For just a brief, giddy moment I thought someone was actually publicly acknowledging the blatant liberal bias in textbooks.

LOL! Same here. I never thought there'd even be a conservative-leaning or even an unbiased textbook out there.

[mbraynard]

Hah. Funny anyone protesting the WashPost/NYT’s take on the story - which the text book cited accuratly.

[mbraynard]

I think you are confusing the ‘flat earth’ argument with the ‘geocentric universe’ argument. The earth was concluded to be a sphere as far back as the period of Greek domination and possibly by civs in the Americas of that time as well.

[14erClimb]

You’re probably right. But you got the idea :)