Monkey Business

Headline: Texas School Board Set to Vote on Challenge to Evolution
(Wall Street Journal; March 23, 2009)

It must be Spring because it’s that time when every level of government is putting together a budget. Ordinarily, I couldn’t possibly care less what they’re doing in Texas as long as W stays there. If they want to ignore the mountain of data supporting evolutionary science, it’s their loss. They can embrace what ever level of ignorance they want as long as they leave me alone. But the above headline caught my attention because it seems the Texas Board of Education is voting on a new biology curriculum that challenges the guiding principles of evolution. This affects the entire state because unlike some other states, Texas has a uniform curriculum. That means that every single kid in Texas who takes biology is going to have the same textbook. That’s a whole lot of kids-and a whole lot of books. That in turn means that publishers are waiting to see what happens in Texas before printing the tens of thousands of books they hope to sell there. Hence the connection to the budget. This whole thing gives Texas a pretty influential presence in the textbook market. I remember back in the day when I was putting together budgets, I was often left with choices of books that others had decided on. Publishers won’t produce books to appeal to every single curriculum. So the bottom line is what happens in Texas could happen elsewhere. Now before anyone panics (as if), let me assure you that there are certainly publishers out there who are going to provide texts that fit a variety of curricula. This is especially true when dealing with a controversial issue like evolution. But it’s not so certain when dealing with, say, a math curriculum. Very often in curriculum areas such as this, whatever California, New York and Texas decide are what your choices are going to be. The point is school districts are not as independent as perhaps they’d like to be. What others do can influence what you can do so pay attention, kids. Every once in a while, look around and see what’s going on.