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Based on the information we've posted so far, certain folks in Plano, Texas want to have it both ways. They want to preserve the conservative Christian message in their public schools, but not anything that remotely deviates from that.
<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ December 17, 2004 08:52 AM: Message edited by: reason ]</font>
And yet more:
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Quote:
Creationist text turned back
Large Dallas-area district puts Pandas on endangered species list
Citizens had hoped to make pseudoscience text extinct
By Mike Sullivan
Plano, Texas ? Hundreds of angry residents, educators and local clergy members united at a school board meeting in this large suburban Dallas district to keep a textbook that promotes Creationism out of the public school science classes, at least temporarily. However, procedural motions made at the last minute may resurrect the controversial issue in the future, as the board did not act to formally reject the text. The book, Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Human Origins (Second Edition) was proposed by a school board member who later tried to withdraw his proposal for funding after seeing the public firestorm the issue created.
Plano Independent School District (PISD) trustee Tom Wilds proposed in mid-January that district funds be used to buy review copies of the book for each of the system's biology teachers. The teachers would then be free to ask that copies of the book be purchased with district funds if they wished to use it in their classroom, thereby circumventing the established PISD textbook review process. Three other board members expressed support for the idea, setting up the prospect of an easy vote of approval by the seven-member board at the February 7 meeting.
Plano is one of the largest and most affluent school districts in Texas, known across the state and nationally for excellent academic standards. Plano is also home to tens of thousands of highly-educated citizens who are employed at several area universities and giant firms including EDS, Frito-Lay, JC Penney, Arco Oil, Cyrix, E-Systems, Texas Instruments and many others.
@SUBHEAD = Three weeks with Pandas
As reported in the January issue of The Skeptic, a front-page story on the Pandas controversy in the January 13 editions of The Dallas Morning News brought the issue to wide attention and kicked off three weeks of frenetic activity by local parents, educators, clergy and taxpayers. A local parent's group, organized last year under the name Keep Quality in Plano Schools (KQUIPS), began investigating the issue immediately after hearing of Wilds' proposal and quickly found themselves out of their range, unfamiliar with the Creationism issue and the subtleties of the Pandas book. Assistance and contacts offered by The North Texas Skeptics proved crucial in getting the opposition effort organized in time, according to KQUIPS spokeswoman Evelyn Peelle.
The KQUIPS group was able to collect information on the history of the book and of the so-called "scientific creationism" movement; contact and receive written statements from leading scientific experts on the book; research the substantial case law regarding use of religiously-oriented materials in public schools science curricula; and mount a letter-writing, faxing and telephoning campaign directed at the board members. In the final week before the scheduled school board action, community outrage at the proposal and in the unorthodox acquisition proposal itself was clear.
Plano Star Courier
This is a more balanced and complete article from the Plano Star Courier. It discusses the dilemma of the distribution of religious materials in the classroom - but once again no mention is made of any rules forbidding the colors red and green.
I want to know why we can't find any mention of the banning of red and green in any mainstream article? As sensational as this is you'd think this would be front page news.
But no, only gae was able to find...and post...this information.
<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ December 17, 2004 09:34 AM: Message edited by: reason ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Damn Reason, your getting more like a loony liberal all the time. You make snide disparaging comments because of your lack of Internet skills.Quote:
Originally posted by reason:
But no, only gae was able to find...and post...this information.
Stop by sometime maybe she can teach you how to use the Internet.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Damn Reason, your getting more like a loony liberal all the time. You make snide disparaging comments because of your lack of Internet skills.Quote:
Originally posted by travelinman:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by reason:
But no, only gae was able to find...and post...this information.
Stop by sometime maybe she can teach you how to use the Internet.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No, I can use the internet just fine. I make snide, disparaging comments because you two repeatedly start inane threads on articles from dubious sources, followed by the typical drones who chime in with their typical thoughtless, uninformed commentary.
Maybe if you could for once provide one iota of intellectual contribution it would be beneficial. But the cut and paste thing does nothing to further an idea - except for those who express a shallow opinion without really delving further to understand what's going on.
This "liberal" labelling is crap for those who want to label without using brain waves. Try using yours. You don't know crap about Plano, Texas, nor do you ever intend to. But you certainly have strong opinions about what goes on there.
You make pina look like a genius on a regular basis. Shame, shame.
<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ December 17, 2004 10:41 AM: Message edited by: reason ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Tell me you meant to do that. Please.Quote:
You make pina look like a genious on a regular basis. Shame, shame.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Tell me you meant to do that. Please.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">FYI, I corrected myself just as you were typing your response - instead of focusing on the greater stupidity of your original posting.Quote:
Originally posted by gae:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You make pina look like a genious on a regular basis. Shame, shame.
I'm so glad you focus first on the spelling - that from the woman who is married to a man who wrote a lengthy essay on the the failures of "collage" education.
I'll just blame it on dyslexia.
<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ December 17, 2004 05:20 PM: Message edited by: reason ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Give me a break. an intrllectual contribution on this board is a waste of time.Quote:
Originally posted by reason:
Maybe if you could for once provide one iota of intellectual contribution it would be beneficial.
You don't like my posts, don't fucking read them.
I would tell you to suck my dick, but I would find you knocking on my back door.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">While I certainly agree with the relative ranking of trav and myself with regard to mental skills I prefer to attribute the worth of my postings to my own efforts and not to the worthlessness of most of trav and gae's postings. After all trav would post crap regardless of my participation and I would post gems of wisdom regardless of his. [img]smile.gif[/img]Quote:
You make pina look like a genius on a regular basis. Shame, shame.
<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ December 17, 2004 11:23 AM: Message edited by: Pi?a ]</font>