Posted on 12/05/2001 1:34:13 PM PST by Conservative
"Some people think we need a world government to deal with the many complex issues confronting human society."
"Scriptural instruction to be good stewards of the Creation have thus far not moderated Christian ruthlessness towards our environment."
"Some scholars believe that the spread of Democracy, which put land ownership and wealth in the hands of many, and the Industrial Revolution, which made mass production of goods possible and spread wealth throughout society, are the root of the environmental crisis."
Are these passages from some Marxist doctrine, published in a third-world country, and used to indoctrinate its citizens to hate American values?
No, these words appear in a textbook proposed for Texas public schools, part of an ideological tirade presented in Environmental Science, Creating a Sustainable Future, by Daniel D. Chiras, and published by Jones and Bartlett.
Add "Crisis of unsustainability", "species 'rights'", "human biological imperialism", "Spaceship Earth in trouble" and other unscientific, biased terminology.
This is neither science nor education. Rather, it is radical propaganda.
It is hard to understand how this textbook got by the staff reviewers of the Texas Education Agency's bureaucracy. After all, the TEA operates under Texas code which requires public school curriculum to be factual, and promote patriotism and the free enterprise system.
The Jones and Bartlett text does none of these, and in fact shows a biased rejection of Christianity and our Capitalist free-market system, as well as a loathing for our system of government. This text is just more Malthusian junk science from the radical left, not about saving the Earth, but rather an ideological attempt to convince our kids that the socialists in the United Nations should be allowed to distribute America's wealth across the world according to their agenda. Today it is fashionable to frighten children with global warming, melting ice caps, and flooding coastlines. But these are the same radicals, who on the inaugural Earth Day in the 1970s, used a supposedly imminent ice age to promote an identical agenda. And these are the same folks who predicted that 65 million citizens of an overpopulated America would die of starvation between 1980-1989.
Thankfully, this textbook was finally rejected by ten courageous Republican members of the Texas State Board of Education.
And how some Democrats on the Board have protested this decision, along with their comrades: Radical environmentalists and the unelected eletists of the education establishment.
Democrat board member Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi started the ball rolling by claiming that the Board's rejection amounted to "censorship". Editorials and letters to editors around the state have picked up on this theme.
Ms. Berlanga and her followers need to recognize that, while ideologues such as the authors of the offending text have every right to write and even publish whatever suits them, they do not have the right to reject Texas code while poisoning the minds of public school children.
This text is clearly an attempt to indoctrinate our children with an anti-American, anti-Christian set of values, without presenting the other side of the debate.
The authors even admit their attempt to change values. On page 41 they write, "Changes in values are also essential. Many observers believe that creating a sustainable society (society....not environment....a giant leap from "science" here), will require profound changes in our understanding of issues, through education (read...indoctrination).".
Current performance of education administrators has clearly established that public schools are not the place to teach values. A major problem that parents face today stems from the moral relativism, political correctness, and contempt for family values pushed so hard in many of today's public schools. Administrators need to focus on academics, an area so in need of significant improvement that it warrants 100% of their attention, while leaving the teaching of values to families and their religious institutions.
Bill Ames is a freelance writer who lives in Dallas. He welcomes reader comments at billames@prodigy.net
Dozens of Conservatives presented their issues to the Texas State Board of Education on September 6 and November 8.
Since Texas (with California) is the leading purchaser of public school textbooks in the country, and therefore often sets the tone for other states' evaluations, the rejection of this biased textbook has national implications as well.
Most publishers of textbooks will scrap plans for a book that Texas will not buy. That pesky "free-enterprise" system means they won't make any money just selling a book to other states.
The rainbow-enviro-leftists have thrown the cat in the well a long time ago and it's going to be quite a task removing their putrid filth.
Off topic. If you want to bash Capitalism, start your own thread or go to DemocRATunderground.com
Democrat board member Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi started the ball rolling by claiming that the Board's rejection amounted to "censorship". Editorials and letters to editors around the state have picked up on this theme."Censorship?" Well, yes, that is the point. You wouldn't expect to have "adult" videos shown in government schools, and you shouldn't expect to find anticonservative material there, either.
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You are so far out in left field that I don't think even "www.commies.com" can accomodate you.
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