The new head of the White House Office of Science and Technology, John Holdren, was recently interviewed by Scienceinsider. Among the topics he spoke about, was the recently adopted science education standards in Texas.
Following is an excerpt from the interview in which the nonsense in Texas is specifically addressed.
ScienceInsider: The president also cares a lot about education. How will OSTP handle science education?
Holdren: It'll be within the associate director for science. Everybody has a stake in it, however. And we will have an associate director for science who is known for his or her commitment to strengthening science, technology, engineering, and math education. That's already clear.
ScienceInsider: So you have somebody in mind?
Holdren: I do. And this is a big deal for the president. His commitment to education is clear, and it's shared by the Education Secretary, Arne Duncan. We're going to do a lot in that domain.
ScienceInsider: Staying with education, do you think that the Texas state school board's recent decision to add a skeptical view of the study of evolution and the fossil record weaken the state's science standards and weaken national efforts to improve science education?
Holdren: Well, I have not reviewed that decision carefully. But my impression from reading about it is that it was not a step forward but rather a step backward. Of course, all science needs to be skeptical. It's hard to be against skepticism. But when you get into the domain of promoting particular views about the basis for skepticism of evolution, and those views are not really valid, then I think we have a problem. I think we need to be giving our kids a modern education in biology, and the underpinning of modern biology is evolution. And countervailing views that are not really science, if they are taught at all, should be taught in some other part of the curriculum.
ScienceInsider: Is there anything you can do?
Holdren: I'm not aware of any leverage we have, at OSTP or within the federal government, over the science curriculum in Texas, other than exhortation. We can argue and we can beg and we can try to educate. But we have no authority to act.
I guess the bottom line is that this issue is in the hands of the people and the politicians they vote for. But, it seems to me we should have some national standards established. How difficult would it be to require that math be taught in math classes, that history be taught in history classes, and that science be taught in science classes? How difficult would it be to require that politician keep religion out of their policy making practices?
Recently an e-mail was going 'round (again), which was meant to rally Texas citizens to the idea of Texas seceding from the US. After all, the e-mail said, they have a ready-made president in George W. Bush. In fact, the Texas governor was just featured on MSNBC as I was typing this saying that Texas could secede. I say, let them go, especially if they keep up their nonsense.
Of course, that isn't the answer to this educational tragedy, but can't a girl dream... if only for a moment?
On a more positive note, it seems there is a movement to revamp the Texas Board of Education, which I will be reporting on soon.
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