Your state's science report card
My state, New Hampshire, got a D. Right across the fence (literally, if I look out my home office window) Massachusetts gets an A-. I guess it could be worse... like the F my home state of Oregon received.
This is why I spend a lot of time talking about science with my kids, watching quality educational programs, etc. They are also getting old enough for me to break out some textbooks to supplement whatever they get in school. Interestingly enough, New Hampshire has a new state law that
throws educational standards to the four winds.
Any parent can object to
any content in
any classroom and demand accommodation. Neat how that's written to be non-specific enough to not trigger any Constitutional challenges like
Edwards v. Aguillard, huh? The only hitch is that replacement materials have to be paid for by the parents, but hey, I'll gladly pay for a textbook if that means evolution is taught in my sons' school!
Of course, this isn't enough for some parents here in NH. They want a bill that would
allow parents to pull their kids from school districts that adopt the International Baccalaureate program because that's one step away from one world government or something.
It could be worse, though. In Indiana, a senator wants to
include religion in the science curriculum and is trying to get around constitutional grounds by including more than just the creation science view. The bill now reads, "The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology." Somehow, I don't think the parents who would support this bill will support anything but Judeo-Christian teachings in their classroom. What about my belief system, that world was created from the
dead body of Ymir the giant? Will that be on the test?