February 11, 2008
It was easy to miss it in most Texas churches yesterday, but it was Evolution Sunday. Darwin’s birthday, February 12, comes this week.
Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow offered an explanation that deserves reading outside of Dallas. I think he’s a little optimistic, saying “hundreds” of preachers participate — in Texas? Really?
Blow writes:
“Evolution Sunday offers an opportunity to educate our congregations that science is a gift,” said the Rev. Timothy McLemore, senior pastor at Kessler Park United Methodist Church in Oak Cliff.
“If we believe God is truth, we don’t need to shrink from truth in whatever way it presents itself. We don’t have to be threatened.”
The State Board of Education is set to review and revise science curriculum standards in Texas. And Dr. McLemore said he is “deeply concerned” about attempts to inject religion-based “intelligent design” theories into science classes.
“It seems profoundly unhealthy,” he said. “Do we really want the government deciding what religious beliefs and viewpoints are taught in school? It’s our job to promote our understanding of faith, not the government’s job.”
Even in Texas. We can hope government officials in Texas are listening.
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Posted by Ed Darrell
February 8, 2008
Everyone who knows him thinks highly of him. When the rest of the teachers in the department need help, they turn to him. The school is struggling to achieve the state’s testing standards, and much hope rides on this guy.
So, yesterday in the staff meeting, when he complained the news media were aiming specifically at him, the generally noisy teachers fell suddenly silent.
Studies may be generally accurate, but they are, by nature and design, generalizations. Across Texas yesterday, good teachers in struggling schools took a hit they don’t deserve.
I’m sure that’s not what the authors intended.
See this story in the Dallas Morning News. Check it out in the Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Look at the report, from the Education Trust, here.
So far, I can’t tell if the study said anything about improving conditions for teachers to encourage the good ones to stay in the profession and take the tougher assignments. Conservatives will see this as a call to fire more teachers, I’m sure. Reaction will start any moment now.
Tip of the scrub brush to Aunt Betsy.
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4 Comments | Education, Education quality, Teacher Pay, Teaching, Technology in the classroom, Texas | Tagged: Education, Education quality, Politics, Teacher Pay | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 29, 2008
How young is too young to blog about education?
Our reader, Dr. Pamela Bumsted wrote about a 12 year-old kid in Southern California who blogs to reach underprivileged kids, at The Edublogs Magazine.
Michael Guggenheim is twelve years old, a full-time 6th grade student in southern California. He’s recently won the Volunteer Service Award from Secretary Spelling of the U.S. Department of Education and another award from the Inland Empire Branch of the International Dyslexia/Dysgraphia Association. He’s been interviewed by Good Morning America, the LA Times, and CNN. And he’s a blogger.
Michael Guggenheim uses his blog for education – as a teacher to document his nonprofit organization and his extracurricular activities teaching even younger students how to use a computer.
S.P.L.A.T. Inc. (Showing People Learning And Technology) was set up by Guggenheim to help him tutor youngsters at homeless shelters, low income housing projects, and community centers. Whatever funds he raises goes to the distribution of used computers, monitors, printers, and donated software. He himself teaches basic computer skills and also shows the younger children how to use computer learning games.
Got a classroom blog yet? This kid is ahead of a lot of teachers in blogging.
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2 Comments | Best practices, Classroom technology, Education blogs, Education quality, Teaching, Technology in the classroom, Weblogs | Tagged: Education, Heroes, student blogs, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 28, 2008
Bloggers are out there looking for the good posts, the real meat of Bloggovia, to serve it up to you in a tight bundle. Here’s where you find such purveyors:
- At Green Gabbro, you’ll find Accretionary Wedge #5, a carnival of geology. Tip of the scrub brush to Pharyngula for pointing it out.
- Carnival of Space #38, over at Sorting Out Science
- Carnival of Education #155 at Median Sib; it includes such little gems as this: “Daniel Lafleche presents A fascinating clip from the film Malaria Parasites posted at Film and Video Marketplace Blog, saying, ‘Why is it that 30 years ago malaria in Africa was no more serious than the flu? This 5-minute educational video provides an overview on what has happened. Can be a useful resource for related lessons.'” (It’s one more problem that DDT can’t solve, and whose solution is put off by the junk science purveyors who claim DDT is the answer to malaria, or any other problem — I may have to pull this one out for further comment.)
- You haven’t checked out the 60th Carnival of History yet? It’s at Victorian Peeper. I didn’t know: “The Library Thing Blog announces that Thomas Jefferson’s library has been added to Library Thing, an online service that enables users to catalog their books. Now Jefferson’s author cloud, tag cloud, author gallery, and stats page are available for all to see. You can also find out how many books your personal library has in common with our third president’s.”
- Alternative Economic Review #4 is due up this week; you should review Alternative Economic Review #3 at Gavonomics to see how the economists did forecasting the last month’s activities, perhaps?
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Posted by Ed Darrell
January 27, 2008
Adding legal irony to the Texas legislature’s running from education problems in the state, a federal court in Dallas upheld the state’s “moment of silence” law a few weeks ago, saying it is not an illegal establishment of religion. The fact that many or most of the students in the state refuse to follow the law earned no mention in the decision.
It’s more shooting at education and educators in the continuing War on Education.
So the law is legal, but largely unenforced, and maybe unenforceable. The law is on the books. I have yet to find a school in Texas that is ambitious about enforcing the law. A suggestion that kids should “honor a moment of silence” is often met with laughter, and generally met with conversations and actions that do anything but follow the law. The lesson the kids take away is that laws can be flouted, or maybe that they should be flouted. I’m imagining a bit — I don’t know what lesson the kids are taking away. The Texas moment of silence is not honored by students in many schools; administrators are reluctant to enforce it with any disciplinary action. Students are not learning respect for religion, nor respect for any God. Sadly, they’re not learning respect for others’ faiths, either.
Teachers are charged with assuring compliance with the law. The legislature decided not to punish students for disobeying it, but instead hold teachers responsible for making sure students obey it.
I imagine the defenders of the law, including Kelly Shackleford at Plano’s Liberty Legal Institute, think this law is a boon to faith. It seems to function much as the establishment laws in Europe, however: It discourages kids from making their faith their own, discourages an honoring of faith, and ultimately pushes kids out of the pews. Students do not think the moment is anything other than a time for prayer in my experience. Some schools get around much trouble by making the legally required minute last about 15 seconds.
There’s no law on the books that says legislators and judges must be intelligent and show common sense. One wishes they would use common sense once in a while. Mark Twain noted that God goofed in prohibiting the apple to Adam; God should have prohibited the snake, then Adam would have eaten it instead, Twain said. In this case, the legislature has prohibited talking. Guess what happens.
Plaintiffs plan to appeal according to David Wallace Croft, the chief plaintiff, at his blog. Teachers and students are stuck with the law as it is (see the actual opinion), an embarrassing moment in the day. According to an Associated Press story in the Houston Chronicle:
David and Shannon Croft filed their initial lawsuit after they said one of their children was told by an elementary schoolteacher to keep quiet because the minute is a “time for prayer.” The complaint, filed in 2006, named Gov. Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, which the Crofts’ three children attended in the suburbs of Dallas.
District Judge Barbara Lynn upheld the constitutionality of the law earlier this month, concluding that “the primary effect of the statute is to institute a moment of silence, not to advance or inhibit religion.”
Resources:
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6 Comments | Education, Education reform, First Amendment, Religion, School prayer, Texas Lege, War on Education | Tagged: Education, Establishment Clause, First Amendment, Religion, Texas Lege | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 23, 2008
Ben Stein’s movie defending science crackpottery has been delayed in release.
In the meantime, real science is under assault. Maybe Stein could stand up for paying attention to real science sometime?
O Ceallaigh’s Felloffatruck Publications laments:
I read in today’s news of the school superintendent in Montana who cancelled a scientist’s speech because of pressure from antagonistic members of the community.
Professor Steven Running is quoted as saying that he’s “never before been canceled in any venue by any organization.”
How does it feel to be an evolutionary biologist, Steve? Of course, global warming is fast joining evolution as a science topic that has to confront a large “faction of society that is willfully ignorant” about it. Like the current President of the United States and several of the current candidates for the position.
If Science no longer has the ear of society, if it cannot put forth the results of its findings, good or bad, favorable to me or not, without being shouted down by those who have both reason and the resources to suppress those findings, then we have lost far more than the future benefits of scientific and technological contributions to society. Contributions that, over the last two hundred years, have permitted the human species to achieve a standard of living far beyond the wildest imaginings of pre-Industrial Revolution humanity.
We have lost the essence of Liberty.
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5 Comments | Climate change, Education, Education quality, Global warming, Politics, Religion, Science, War on Science | Tagged: Education, First Amendment, knowledge, Politics, Religion, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 21, 2008
From Rob Dillon, president of South Carolinians for Science Education:
Creationism is a doctrine to which I, like most Christians, do not subscribe. It springs from a wrong understanding of the Word of God. And anybody who thinks he or she is going to impose his own personal narrow, vain, idolatrous doctrine on the children of this state as they sit helpless in their tenth grade Biology classrooms will have a fight on his hands. Again.
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9 Comments | Accuracy, Biology, Creationism, Religion, Science, State school boards, Textbook Selection, Textbooks | Tagged: Education, Evolution, Religion, Science, Textbooks | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 21, 2008
Too early for Mardi Gras!
Not in the worlds of education, and history, and archaeology, and . . .
Catch up with these Carnivals of Education:
Short and maybe better for it, Carnival of the Liberals:
Expand your reading and thinking:
- Tangled Up in Blue Guy hosts the current Carnival of the Godless. I don’t usually note this carnival, partly because evangelizing atheism is not my goal; but that’s not the goal of the carnival, either. TUIB Guy is an occasional reader and commenter here; his hosting job takes an interesting view of carnival hosting. Carnival of the Godless frequently features informative and useful posts. In this one, especially if you are involved in science education, or you know a Ron Paul supporter, you should read this post, from the Atheist Ethicist.
Great material for the classroom:
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1 Comment | Archaeology, Education, Education blogs, Evolution, History, Paleontology, Weblogs | Tagged: blog carnivals, Education, Evolution, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 20, 2008
Yes, I know: It’s a test of human evolution, and evolution passed. When I put “proof” in the headline, more people will give it the attention it deserves.
Go look at this clip from PBS’s NOVA’s “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.” It features Dr. Kenneth Miller explaining the significance of the fused human chromosome to evolution evidence; the graphics are great, and Miller is clear.
Teachers, you can register for the teacher information, and download this video for free use in your classroom presentations. I recommend it highly. (These rights are rather fuzzy about blogs, so I have not put the video here.)
This has become part of Ken Miller’s presentation to teachers — it was part of his lecture at Southern Methodist University on November 16, and I suspect it was a key part of his presentation to the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) in Austin, on November 17 — a conference sponsored by the Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT) and at which attendance would probably get Texas state education officials fired.*
__________________________
* Chris Comer was a featured speaker at this meeting. It’s likely the poobahs at the Texas Education Agency didn’t figure out that any meeting of science teachers and scientists in Texas would feature evolution; one may hope that they don’t figure that out, if they continue to campaign against evolution and other science.
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2 Comments | Accuracy, Biology, Evolution, History, Science | Tagged: Education, Evolution, human evolution, Science, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 20, 2008
Joe Lapp, from Austin, Texas, posted this review on Amazon.com of the National Academy of Science’s book Science, Evolution and Creationism. It’s worth reading, and repeating. Despite Joe’s criticism, the book is well worth your time to read; if you know about the example Joe uses, you’re ahead of the game.
Beneath the fold.
In addition to Amazon, the book is available for free download at the National Academy of Science’s site. It’s a great backgrounder for anyone interested in learning “what scientists say” about evolution and creationism, from our nation’s oldest and most trusted society of science advisors (Lincoln called on NAS for advice, and wise policy makers still do).
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1 Comment | Accuracy, Biology, Books, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Education quality, Evolution, History, Natural history, Religion, Research, Science, TEKS, Textbook Selection | Tagged: Creationism, Education, Evolution, National Academy of Science, Religion, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 20, 2008
You’re not registered yet?
Students learn history best when it affects them directly, or when they can see the stuff close up. The Legacies Dallas History Conferences focus on history in and around Dallas, Texas. This is prime material for Texas and Dallas history, economics and government classes.
The 9th Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference is set for next Saturday, January 26, in the half-day from 8:30 a.m. to 1:10 p.m: “Dallas Goes to War: Life on the Homefront.” $40 for nine presentations — or $100 brings an invitation to schmooze with the presenters on Friday night, before the conference. The conference will be at the Hall of State at Fair Park. The conference was assembled by Dr. Michael V. Hazel.
If you’re teaching at a high school or middle school in the Dallas area, print this off for every social studies and English teacher at your school, and pass it out to them Tuesday (or Monday if you’re open then).
Many of the conference presentations roll down that alley of a topic most Texas students need more of, the events around World War II. One session dives into Vietnam, one goes back to the Civil War, and World War I is remembered.
Bob Reitz, the public historian who curates the amazing Jack Harbin Museum of Scout History at Dallas’s Camp Wisdom, alerted me to the conference with a plug to his colleague’s presentation. Anita Mills-Barry will present her paper, “Homefront Scouting During World War II: Participation by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in the Civilian Effort in Dallas County.”
A copy of the web invitation to the conference below the fold.
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1 Comment | Capturing history, History, Museums, Texas, Texas history, Vietnam, War, World War I, World War II | Tagged: Boy Scouts of America, Education, Girl Scouts, History, Teacher CEUs, Texas history, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 15, 2008
Utah’s Cache Valley is home to the city of Logan, and to Utah State University, the land-grant college for the state. For several humorous reasons, some of them good, the place sometimes is called Happy Valley.
Small county in a beautiful setting + good university with a good school of education = good conditions for teacher recruiting. Logan’s schools have been very good over the years, in academics and all forms of competition.
As we discovered with the voucher fiasco in 2007, Utah’s education situation is not completely happy any more. Classrooms are crowded, teachers are overworked, and for the first time since the Mormon pioneers first settled Utah, educational achievement is declining.
The editorial board at Logan’s Herald-Journal noticed the problems. It’s tough to recruit teachers. If Milton Friedman were alive, we’d look for a classic free-market economics solution, something like raising teacher pay to stop the exodus from the profession.
Milton Friedman is dead. His ghost doesn’t seem to have much clout in Logan, Utah, either. What does the Herald-Journal propose? Loosen standards, look for uncertified people to teach.
When people leave the job they worked hard to earn certification for, what will happen with people who are not certified and are untrained in classroom management?
Why not just raise teacher pay, and attract more well-trained teachers?
Let me ask the key question, more slowly this time so I’m sure it’s caught: Why not just raise teacher pay?
Fishing for teachers? Bait the hook with money.
(Full Herald-Journal opinion below the fold.)
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Posted by Ed Darrell
January 15, 2008
Is this a state school board member urging teacher unions and — heavens to Betsy! — a strike? Tim Beagley, at Educating Utah:
In very real terms, I’m afraid that the reason the teaching profession has fallen so far is that teachers have allowed it to happen. In the face of ridiculously low wages and poor academic environments, teachers keep showing up and going through the motions of their job. That must change if the system is going to improve. We need (and I believe would ALL be well served) for teachers to be more forceful with their demands for respect and dignity. The standards that our accountability plans are based upon should be high and the expectations teachers have of us need to be just as high and stringent. There was a time when the teacher was known to be one of the most respected and strongest members of society. We need to get back to that. Respect and dignity are likely products of strength.
His post reminds one of Bill Bennett’s old “$50,000 solution” — hire a good principal, which in 1986 and 1987, would run about $50,000 (it’s higher now).
When will legislators and school boards really get the message that to make our schools competitive, we have to hire people who can make them compete, which means we need to compete against other hiring authorities to get the best?
Beagley is a member of the Utah State Board of Education, and a biology professor at Salt Lake Community College.
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3 Comments | Education quality, Education reform, Education spending, Labor and unions, Teacher Pay | Tagged: Education, Teacher Pay, teacher unions | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 14, 2008
Florida may be ahead in the race to see which state can get slapped down first for illegally denying science to students in public school science classes. The problem in national, however.
It’s not always a question of setting standards. Sometimes teachers are told to dumb down classes, regardless the standards. Fort Bend County, Texas, offers an example: “Religious Beliefs Trump Thinking In Our Schools.”
No, Fort Bend County is not in rural, far west Texas. It’s just southeast of Houston, Texas’ biggest city.
Be sure to scan the comments, too.
Belated tip of the old scrub brush to Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
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2 Comments | Biology, Creationism, Religion, Science, State school boards, Teaching, TEKS, Texas | Tagged: Creationism, Education, Evolution, Religion, Science, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 