November 09, 2004
Teach No Evil
A plan to bowdlerize sex education textbooks in Texas could dictate lesson plans for the rest of the country, reports the Christian Science Monitor:
Presidential politics isn't the only realm where the Texas way prevails. As a heavyweight in the $4.3 billion textbook market, the state puts its stamp on materials bound for many of the nation's classrooms.
On Friday, two messages came through loud and clear as the State Board of Education voted on a new list of approved health books: That abstinence should be taught without any textbook discussion of contraception. And that the books should be explicit about marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Texas is one of 21 states with a centralized process to review textbooks, but it's the second-biggest market. "If [interest] groups can be successful in California and Texas in getting some restrictions as to what content is covered, that will have a major influence on textbooks that are sold nationally," says Martha McCarthy, chancellor's professor of education at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Everything from evolution to multiculturalism has come up for scrutiny in textbook debates over the past century. But the origin of the state-approval process dates even further back to just after the Civil War. Southern states organized to keep out textbooks that they saw as disparaging the Confederacy, so Northern publishers began sending separate books with more palatable references, like "the War for Southern Independence," according to a September report on textbooks by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington.
The report criticizes states that dictate what books schools can purchase, saying the practice "entices extremist groups to hijack the curriculum, and papers the land with mediocre instructional materials." Textbook publishing is ripe for reform, it argues, because students spend somewhere between 50 percent and 90 percent of class and homework time focused on textbooks.
In hearings before Friday's vote in Texas, the debate centered on the discussion of abstinence and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in four high school books. Protect Our Kids, a coalition of educators, health experts, parents, and religious leaders, raised concerns that three of the books don't talk about condoms or other contraceptives at all, while one mentions latex condoms briefly.
Instead, all the books teach that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to prevent pregnancy or STDs. One offers strategies such as going out in groups, avoiding alcohol and drugs, and getting plenty of rest to avoid having "to make a tough choice when you are tired."
(Read the full article here.)
Fellow editor Scott points out that, while the abstinence-only mandate is no less unsettling than the move to drive evolution out of the classroom, it does, at least, represent an legitimate point of view that isn't in flagrant conflict with reality.
However, let's transpose the argument made by the pro-abstinence "educators" to another high school staple. It is entirely accurate to state that the only way to completely prevent death or injury in a car crash is to never set foot in a car. However true this may be, though, it wouldn't make for much of a driver's ed class.
Once again, we see a clash between ideology and belief, and the reality that all the pro-abstinence messages in the world will not stop some teenagers from having sex with each other. Strategic editing of textbooks does not make teen sex, teen pregnancy, or same-sex relationships disappear. (In fact, it is far more likely to increase the incidence of teen pregnancy, in which Texas already leads the nation amongst 15-17 year old girls.
And don't forget -- market pressures may result in the same material being taught to students across the country.
Thanks, Texas!
posted by sangwyn at November 9, 2004 12:01 PM
digg |
del.icio.us |
reddit
permalink
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://realitybasedcommunity.net/mt-tb.cgi/16