NCSE Evolution Education Update for 2009/07/17
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2009-07-17 20:43.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear Friends of NCSE, A new chair for the Texas state board of education, and selected content from a new issue of RNCSE.
A NEW CHAIR FOR THE TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION On July 10, 2009, Governor Rick Perry (R) named Gail Lowe to chair the Texas state board of education. Lowe replaces Don McLeroy, who failed to win confirmation from the Texas Senate on May 28, 2009. As the Dallas Morning News (July 11, 2009) noted, “Lowe is one of seven Republicans who make up the board's social conservative bloc, which frequently has clashed with Democrats and moderate Republicans. The most recent disagreement came over the treatment of evolution in science standards -- with social conservatives arguing for more critical coverage of the topic." In a July 10, 2009, post on its blog, the Texas Freedom Network observed, "It's disappointing that instead of choosing a mainstream conservative who could heal the divisions on the board, the governor once again appointed someone who repeatedly has put political agendas ahead of the education of Texas schoolchildren," adding, "In 2003 and 2009 Ms. Lowe supported dumbing down the state’s public school science curriculum by voting to include unscientific, creationist criticisms of evolution in science textbooks and curriculum standards." And in a July 10, 2009, posting on the Houston Chronicle's Evosphere blog, Steven Schafersman of Texas Citizens for Science commented, "Lowe will do what the radical religious right powers want her to do. She will not stop the continuing politicization of public education in Texas by the Fundamentalist Christians who still have positions of power and influence. It will be business as usual, as as usual, public education and the students and teachers of the state will suffer." For the story in the Dallas Morning News, visit: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/071109dnmetedboard.429d7b7.html For the blog posts from TFN and TCS, visit: http://tfnblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/breaking-news-perry-picks-lowe-to-head-sboe/ http://www.chron.com/commons/readerblogs/evosphere.html And for NCSE's previous coverage of events in Texas, visit: http://ncseweb.org/news/texas CATCHING UP WITH RNCSE Selected content from volume 29, number 1, of Reports of the National Center for Science Education is now available on NCSE's website. Featured are Sara B. Hoot's discussion of Charles Darwin's botanical work and Dana Fischetti's account of how the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, is celebrating the Darwin anniversaries. Additionally, NCSE's Glenn Branch reviews Randy Moore and Mark Decker's More than Darwin, NCSE's Peter M. J. Hess reviews Mariano Artigas, Thomas F. Glick, and Rafael A. Martínez's Negotiating Darwin: The Vatican Confronts Evolution, 1877-1902, and RNCSE's editor Andrew J. Petto reviews Richard H. Robbins and Mark N. Cohen's collection Darwin and the Bible: The Cultural Confrontation. If you like what you see, why not subscribe to RNCSE today? The next issue (volume 29, number 3) features dispatches from Texas by Steven Schafersman of Texas Citizens for Science, NCSE's Joshua Rosenau, and Jeremy Mohn, who revealed Don McLeroy's penchant for quote-mining. There's also a story about the crowning of the kilosteve -- Steve #1000 in NCSE's Project Steve -- and a host of reviews, including Peter Dodson on Donald R. Prothero's Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters, Andrea Bottaro on Kenneth R. Miller's Only a Theory, and Donald R. Prothero on Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution is True. Don't miss out -- subscribe now! For the selected content from RNCSE 29:1, visit: http://ncseweb.org/rncse/29/1 For subscription information, visit: http://ncseweb.org/membership Thanks for reading! And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncseweb.org -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution education and threats to it. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x310 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncseweb.org http://ncseweb.org Eugenie C. Scott's Evolution vs. Creationism -- now in its second edition! http://ncseweb.org/evc Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools http://ncseweb.org/nioc NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncseweb.org/membership
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