Posted on 09/08/2001 5:33:42 PM PDT by sweetliberty
Group Cries Foul Over Alleged Liberal Agenda Textbooks By Jason Pierce CNSNews.com Staff Writer September 07, 2001
(CNSNews.com) - Are the nation''s top publishing companies inserting a liberal agenda and misinformation into junior high science textbooks?
According to a report by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, top publishers like Glencoe McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall and RonJon Publishing are doing just that.
The report reveals that most of the books being considered by the Texas State Board of Education for science classes in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades contain factual errors about science, and in many cases, the report claims, a liberal agenda is pushed.
According to the report, the textbooks focus mainly on social and political issues, are fuzzy on distinguishing fact from theory, citations are left out, and lack objectivity.
"By omitting important facts and by distorting others, these textbooks do not prepare students to think critically about important environmental issues," said Chris Patterson, TPPF Director of Education Research.
Among the issues most disputed are acid rain, pollution, species and rain forests, Human population growth, and climate change.
In one instance, Patterson said each textbook gave different numbers for the remaining size of South America''s rain forest.
"Glencoe says that 75 million acres of rain forest has been destroyed, Holt says 32, Prentice Hall says 15," Patterson said. "None of them cite where they got the information, but in fact, according to a NASA study, 7.5 million has been destroyed."
Patterson said in another instance, one textbook says all farming hurts the earth except organic farming, and goes on to encourages kids to buy organic goods only.
"We are seeing textbooks that are following a pattern that has been identified over the last year as increasing junk science in the classroom, along with philosophizing and fantasy," Patterson said.
Peggy Venable, director of the Texas Citizens for a Sound Economy, said her group found the liberal agenda unmistakable.
"Frankly, it amazed us that the textbooks were so proactive and that the rhetoric was so intermingled throughout the text to lead students using incomplete science and no opposing view to lead students to a certain perspective, and then a call to action, like \lquote use a word processor to make a pamphlet,'" Venable said. "I cannot believe that someone could have gone into writing any of these without having had an agenda.
"All I can say is that it was cleverly done. It most assuredly is a radial environmental activist agenda to allow the documents," she said.
Venable said she told the state board they had the choice of "three r''s" in the situation: revise, re-write, or reject.
"I really don''t see any way to edit these textbooks, because their slant is so one-sided," she said.
Representatives from the three targeted publishing houses and the state board of education were unavailable for comment.
However, in a Friday article in the Dallas Morning News, Robert Cox, senior vice president for Glencoe McGraw-Hill, stood by the books, admitting that mistakes are often made, but can be corrected.
"We stand by the information that we have put in theses textbooks, but there is not a publisher here that will say they have error-free books," Cox said. "If we see there are errors, we will correct them."
Grace Shore, president of the Texas State Board of Education, said the state can do something to correct factual errors, but in instances of bias, not much can be done.
"Factual errors can be most easily corrected. Bias errors are much more difficult to address," said Shore. "Actually, the board has no jurisdiction over bias. About all we can do is express moral indignation when we see it."
Patterson insisted that the TPPF and other critics of the textbooks are not calling for all issues of environment to be tossed out of the lesson plans, but instead, there should efforts made to ensure fairness when presenting the material.
"We think these are important environmental issues and we believe they should be addressed," she said. "It is not that these issues should be omitted, but they should be dealt with factually."
The board is waiting to hear from the publishers, who have two weeks to respond to the concerns. Additionally, an evaluation of the textbooks by a committee of educators and a review by Texas A&M University are under consideration.
No. A better event would be a Texas Book Recycling Event where the books are used as (or turned into) toilet paper.
How easily we forget - the democrats had control of congress for 40 years - just what kind of junk do you think they have been printing all those years?; their political agenda.
I heard about "situational ethics" over 20 years ago. No wonder our young people are not appalled by the flagrant actions of our government. The libs have done their job well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.