Austin American Statesmen: Distortion of Facts

      This editorial is  a discussion about the Texas Board of Education’s revisions last year on  public school social studies curriculum: Texas distortion of history - Austin American Statesmen Feb 18 2011. The editor seems to be preaching to the choir. He uses exclamatory language to stir up the reader’s anti conservative sentiment: "The current members  have their work cut out for them if the board is to regain what little academic credibility it had."   The editor makes accusations for which he does not provide sources for. Following the link at the end of the editorial takes the reader to a PDF of the Fordham report for Texas with no other links and no way to compare to other states. The report is damning of Texas for lack of completeness in social studies and accusations of evangelical agendas which it provides no proof. 

      In reality the editor appears to be rabble rousing to decry the fouls of conservative manipulation in Texas. The report quoted leaves some unanswered questions of its own; how biased is the report, what is the actual source of the report and why they should be trusted. The editor attempts to show that the report is conservative by invoking former President G.W. Bush:  "Rod Paige, President George W. Bush's education secretary, is a member of the institute's board of directors."   Google provided some illumination with two links.

Here is the Fordham summary report for the nation:  USHistory Final Press Release

“U.S. History Standards Need Radical Overhaul, New Study Reveals

As of Presidents’ Day 2011, history standards in twenty-eight states are mediocre-to-awful; only South Carolina earns a straight ‘A’

WASHINGTON – According to a new analysis, twenty-eight states – a majority – deserve D or F grades for their U.S. history standards for primary-secondary schools. The average grade across all states is a dismal D. South Carolina is the only state to earn a straight A for its standards, according to this review by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Six others – Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York and the District of Columbia – earn A-minuses. And three – Oklahoma, Georgia and Michigan – are in the B range."

 Evangelical Christian right agendas to blame nationwide too?

Another site that criticizes the Fordham institute for being too liberal and making up facts: liberty institute give fordham institute texas social studies report an F

     The objectivity of the editor’s argument comes into question. The author assumes you will read no further than the report he links and that you will agree with him on principal. He expects that like minded voters will join him in condemning the Texas Board of Educations’ revisions last year.  While this could be justified, how can he expect to sway intelligent voters when the author presents his argument with obviously biased “facts” in his favor? The real problem in this debate is the standardization of testing and the "No child left behind" law. We need to make good decisions based on solid facts and not be easily swayed with cheap political rhetoric.

It May Be a Sputnik Moment, but Science Fairs Are Lagging

President Obama is urging greater participation in science fairs, “this is our Sputnik moment “he said during his state of the union address. Mr. Obama suggested the science fair winners should be treated more like the super bowl winners.  However, some teachers suggest it’s not the celebration that is lacking but the administration’s own education policy. Teachers have little time left over for inspiring creativity and questioning possibility after focusing on the higher priority of meeting minimum math and reading scores. Many teachers give up their lunch breaks or spend extra time after school helping students prepare for a science project.   Depreciated interest in science has led to a decline in Science fair attendance.  In Indiana, high school science fair participation has dropped 15% over the last 3 yrs. “One obvious reason for flagging interest in science fairs is competing demands for high school students’ extracurricular attention.” As it stands the teachers have to focus more on meeting criteria to prevent sanctions than to work on building scientific interest. Some teachers have reached out to universities for assistance in getting guidance for the science fair participants but have had limited success.

I think this is an interesting article as it reinforces the idea that  we as a country are falling behind other countries in scientific education. Also and even more importantly it shows that creativity is stifled in pursuit of academic minimum standards.