{"id":3091,"date":"2017-12-24T17:15:19","date_gmt":"2017-12-24T22:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?page_id=3091"},"modified":"2018-08-12T10:07:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T14:07:29","slug":"textbook-challenges-law","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?page_id=3091","title":{"rendered":"Challenges to evolution & climate change in textbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview:<\/h3>\n

A new law passed by our state legislature and signed by our governor in 2017 now allows any citizen, not just a parent, to protest to local school boards about instructional materials and those protests could then force the school board to appoint a hearing officer to collect evidence about the complaints. This has led to several challenges already (detailed at the bottom of this page), some of them blatantly targeting evolution and other science topics.<\/p>\n

Why this law threatens science education:<\/h3>\n

The law originated with a group in Collier County called Florida Citizens’ Alliance. They spent several years fighting against what they believe to be bias in textbooks used in their local schools. They eventually expanded their scope to the entire state and met with some success in the state legislature in 2017. For a full write-up of the lengthy history of this fight, which isn’t over yet, see the blog post\u00c2\u00a0Creationist-enabling bill passes; what can you do now?<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0Here was Florida Citizens for Science’s official statement after the legislature passed the bill but before the governor signed it:<\/p>\n

We believe that should this bill become law with the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s signature, people who crusade against basic, established science concepts such as evolution and climate change will have the green light to bog down the textbook selection process on the local level and bully school boards into compromises that will negatively impact science education.<\/p>\n

The current textbook selection and review process allows parents to have a voice. But this bill would now allow any citizen, not just parents, to formally complain about what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in instructional materials, allowing anyone with an ideological agenda to protest on behalf of their pet cause. The bill also requires school boards to appoint a hearing officer to consider such complaints, adding onerous extra steps to the process and potential additional expense.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Florida Citizens for Science launched opposition to the Alliance’s efforts in\u00c2\u00a0December 2015 when research revealed that among the Alliance’s many complaints about textbooks were complaints about the teaching of evolution.<\/p>\n

The Alliance typically concentrated\u00c2\u00a0on history textbooks, but some of those books have sections explaining human evolution. In this December 22 post<\/a>, they say\u00c2\u00a0that there is a problem with how evolution is presented:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Florida History: People and Nations\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Collier County 6th grade History: These two pages teach the children that we descended from apes. This is stated as a fact not a theory. Nowhere in the material is a balanced discussion of the biblical explanation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"textbookskulls\"<\/a>In a December 15 post<\/a> they publish a full report on\u00c2\u00a0Modern World History<\/em>, 9th Grade Teacher Edition Year: 2013. Here is one of their critiques:<\/p>\n

Study of Darwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory of evolution<\/p>\n

Very biased section and Darwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conclusions presented as fact and the biblical theory as ludicrous<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u201c Poses the question \u00e2\u20ac\u0153how can the earths tremendous variety of plants and animals be explained?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d states as fact millions of species exist and fossil records document changes over time. Darwin proved species compete for food and only fittest survive and pass off traits to their offspring.<\/p>\n

-while the biblical explanation claims all species created by God on the same day<\/p>\n

This is a totally superficial and disingenuous comparison. No reference of fact that both are theories or offer students references like the well documented series called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 The Truth Project\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Focus on the Family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Alliance went on the record with many, many other complaints about evolution and climate change. For a full list of those complaints, be sure to read the history write-up linked above.<\/p>\n

Additionally,\u00c2\u00a0a news article about the bill, Florida Bills Would Let Citizens Remove Textbooks That Mention Climate Change and Evolution<\/a>, featured this alarming quote:<\/p>\n

Keith Flaugh, co-director of the Florida Citizens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Alliance, a libertarian advocacy group, argued the bills are about transparency and giving communities greater say in school materials, which he said are currently being chosen by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153politicized\u00e2\u20ac\u009d school districts and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153establishment\u00e2\u20ac\u009d textbook companies.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The science here is not proven on either side,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Flaugh said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are lots of scientists on both sides of that equation: Creationism versus the theory of evolution. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re both theories. And all we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asking for is both sides of the discussion in a balanced way be put in front of the students.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When the bill passed its final vote in the Senate, another story, Florida lawmakers pass bill making it easier to challenge textbooks<\/a>, reaffirmed Flaugh’s stance:<\/p>\n

Similar measures have been considered by dozens of state legislatures in recent years, typically backed by conservative organizations and politicians, and viewed by critics as targeting evolution, climate change and sexually explicit material.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not trying to ban books,” said Keith Flaugh, founder of the Florida Citizens’ Alliance, which pushed for that state’s bill.<\/p>\n

He said his group is seeking balance in school instruction, including teaching both evolution and creationism and the various arguments about climate change.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Outside help:<\/h3>\n

The Alliance teamed up with the climate change denying activists at the Heartland Institute and conservative textbook watchdogs Truth in Textbooks. To read more about their partnership, see the post:\u00c2\u00a0The Heartland Institute, Truth in Textbooks, and Time magazine are interested in Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fallout from this new law:<\/h3>\n

Nassau County<\/strong>: The first school district to face a challenge based on this new law was\u00c2\u00a0Nassau County. A citizen complained about evolution’s prominent place in the textbooks and asked that a disclaimer sticker be placed in all of the textbooks. The citizen got a hearing with an appointed hearing officer and then the findings were presented to the school board. The school board voted down the proposal to use the disclaimer stickers but likely only because of the high potential for an unwinnable court challenge. The superintendent and a legal adviser both stated during the meeting that they agreed with the complainant but felt that the legal hurdle was too high.<\/p>\n

Read these blog posts for the full story:<\/p>\n