Free Republic

KUWAIT, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Kuwait is revising text books used at state schools to remove references that could encourage religious extremism, the Gulf state's education minister said on Sunday. The decision comes on the heels of an agreement between Gulf states to combat the roots of Islamic militancy in a region that has suffered a spate of attacks believed to be linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Education Minister Rashid al-Hamad told Reuters the aim of the revision was to "promote tolerance and ensure respect for other religions and opinions". "The objective is not to change...

BHSU book confuses Mormon, American Indian beliefs Associated Press SPEARFISH, S.D. - A book written to help school teachers understand the varying religious beliefs of their students will be pulled after complaints surfaced about its accuracy. The book was part of the curriculum at Black Hills State University's College of Education. The book, "What Teachers Need to Know About Their Students' Religious Beliefs," is meant to be a handbook to help teachers learn the doctrines and customs of 25 different religions. It was written by Len Austin, an assistant professor of education at Black Hills State. Austin used it...

The Mexican government is donating more than 47,000 Spanish textbooks to schools in Clark and Washoe counties and to Nevada public libraries. The head of the Mexican Consul office in Las Vegas says she hopes the books will help children new to the US learn English keep up in other subjects. Many of the books are the same ones used in first- through sixth-grades in Mexico public schools.

<p>Louisiana College faculty issued a statement Friday in disapproval of the school's new screening procedure for all class materials, calling it "a policy of censorship."</p> <p>The faculty believes the need to speak out after a whirlwind of academic freedom controversy has brought national media attention to the college over the new policy, said Bill Simpson, elected faculty delegate.</p>

More than 91,000 Spanish-language textbooks were donated to schools in Colorado and Wyoming on Friday by the Consul General of Mexico. This is the largest donation of textbooks since the Consul General started the practice more than five years ago, said spokesman Mario Hernandez. The textbooks are geared toward elementary-age students and cover nearly every subject. There are also books that contain information about every state in Mexico, Hernandez said. The books will help Spanish and non-Spanish speakers expand their Spanish vocabulary. It also helps expand knowledge of Mexico, Hernandez said.

State Board votes on creation issue ELIMINATING ERRORS: Evolution becomes topic of concern for voters. by Andrew Bell November 10, 2003 On Friday the Texas State Board of Education voted to adopt Chief Deputy Commissioner of the Texas Education Agencys Robert Scott's, recommendation for the elimination of factual errors in high school and advanced placement biology textbooks. The vote required that all remaining factual errors in the textbook be addressed and identified by the publishers before the textbooks can be printed, Robert Crowther of the Discovery Institute said. The vote is a step in the right direction of helping teach...

Arab World Studies Notebook lobs Muslim propaganda at teacherse-mail letter of 8 October 2003 from The Textbook League's president,William J. Bennetta, to Stuart Elliott, of Wichita, Kansas 8 October 2003 Dear Mr. Elliott: I have been reviewing schoolbooks and other instructional publications for about eighteen years, and during that time I have developed three general observations. Writing an analysis of a good publication is enjoyable and usually is easy. Writing an analysis of a weak publication is typically a more difficult task, requiring much explication of the publication's failures and follies. Writing an analysis of a patently fraudulent publication is...

Texas Adopts Controversial Textbooks AMARILLO -- It has been a heated debate for months, but the Texas Board of Education finally adopted some new biology textbooks containing the controversial theory of evolution. But this doesn't mean our local schools have to adopt them. River Road Assistant Superintendent Laura Zanchattin said, "Just because a textbook may take information a little further than what we're expected to cover in the classroom doesn't mean that we use it." In fact, River Road ISD has its own review process. Zanchattin said, "We have a textbook committee that is formed by educators that are...

Board gives final approval to biology books BY APRIL CASTRO Associated Press Writer AUSTIN - Biology books in Texas will continue to present the origin of life according to the theories of Charles Darwin. The State Board of Education gave final approval Friday to 11 biology books, among others, despite a major campaign to poke holes in Darwin's theory of evolution as presented in the textbooks. School districts in Texas will be able to purchase books from the approved list for use beginning in the 2004-2005 school year. Texas Education Agency Director Robert Scott said any factual errors in the...

Texas Religious Groups Fight Biology Texts Thu Nov 6, 2:47 PM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! By APRIL CASTRO, Associated Press Writer AUSTIN, Texas - The State Board of Education voted Thursday to approve biology textbooks, despite criticism from religious activists who say the books as written fail to present the anti-evolution point of view. The 11-4 vote was preliminary and the board was expected to give final approval Friday. Some religious and alternative science groups had argued that weaknesses in the theory of evolution weren't adequately presented in the books. But scientists and educators argued...

The question over what high school students should learn about the origin of man has sparked debate across the state as Thursday and Friday's textbook adoption has neared. Eleven publishers have already been selected for the Board to review, and the Board decides at the end of this week which books conform to the state's TEKS curriculum and which do not. To conform to the TEKS curriculum, books must include some sort of analysis of widely-held evolution theory, and the analysis sometimes includes criticism of the theory. This has been a source of contention for Texas Citizens for Science, the...

AUSTIN -- Texas will be under the microscope this week in the fight over teaching evolution in public schools as the State Board of Education votes on adopting biology textbooks that have been at the center of the debate. The board meets Thursday and Friday and is set to consider proposed changes submitted by 11 publishers. The board's decisions -- which could determine which textbooks publishers offer to dozens of states -- will end a review process that has been marked by months of heated debate over the theory of evolution. Religious activists and proponents of alternative science urged publishers...

Richard Sarkis and David Kinsley were juniors at Williams College, surfing the net for a cheap source for their economics textbook, when they discovered a little known economic fact: the very same college textbooks used in the United States sell for half price - or less - in England. Just like prescription drugs, textbooks cost far less overseas than they do in the United States. The publishing industry defends its pricing policies, saying that foreign sales would be impossible if book prices were not pegged to local market conditions. But many Americans do not see it that way. The National...

Richard Sarkis and David Kinsley were juniors at Williams College, surfing the net for a cheap source for their economics textbook, when they discovered a little known economic fact: the very same college textbooks used in the United States sell for half price - or less - in England. Just like prescription drugs, textbooks cost far less overseas than they do in the United States. The publishing industry defends its pricing policies, saying that foreign sales would be impossible if book prices were not pegged to local market conditions. But many Americans do not see it that way. The National...

ATASCADERO - A handful of San Luis Obispo County students now have textbooks that include a section on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But most social studies teachers countywide are siding with historians, who say it is too soon to place the events of that day in proper historical context. It could take years to determine its place in history, said Mike McAustin, a teacher at Arroyo Grande High School, who chairs the social studies department. "We're too close to 9/11 to feel what the effects are," he said. "We're still dealing with it in an emotional context." Atascadero...

<p>BOSTON -- A Sharon lawmaker has proposed limiting the weight of books used in public schools amid concerns about the health risks of overloaded backpacks.</p> <p>State Rep. Louis Kafka's bill received its first reading on Thursday before the Legislature's joint committee on education.</p>

<p>SEOUL ? The United States is trying to persuade South Korean educators to tone down anti-Americanism in textbooks, standardized tests and lessons in middle and high schools.</p> <p>Although anti-American sentiment, which reached a peak last year, is declining, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul is worried about how the United States is being presented in the classroom ? and it intends to do something about it.</p>

<p>State Rep. Louis Kafka's bill received its first reading on Thursday before the Legislature's joint committee on education.</p> <p>"I lifted some of the backpacks and was quite taken by the weight of the books that the students had to carry," he told The Boston Globe.</p>

Fulton County donates over 50,000 surplus books BY CANDY WAYLOCK In the early morning hours of Sept. 10, five tractor-trailers loaded with more than 54,0000 surplus Fulton County School System textbooks pulled out of the school system`s College Park Warehouse and headed for the Savannah port. Once there, the books were shipped to Iraq to assist in that country`s efforts to rebuild its shattered education system. The 101st Airborne Division, on assignment in Northern Iraq, will receive the books and distribute them to local schools. While many school buildings are in good physical shape, there are no instruction materials to...

PARIS - A book for religion studies teachers in French public schools has been withdrawn from sale because of disputed statements it made about Jews and the Holocaust, education officials said on Friday. The Education Ministry's publishing section stopped sales of the new book for public school teachers after hearing criticism that some passages could be offensive to Jews, said the officials who asked not to be identified. According to the daily Liberation, one passage compared the fate of the Jewish people to the death of Jesus Christ. Another section said some Jews had paranoid reactions to the Holocaust while...