Some of the schools getting voucher students–not all, but a significant number–use textbooks that teach creationism.
Jonathan Pelto posted what is found in a science textbook used to teach creationist “science”:
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“Biblical and scientific evidence seems to indicate that men and dinosaurs lived at the same time…. Fossilized tracks in the bed of the Paluxy River near Glen Rose, Texas, also give evidence that men and dinosaurs existed simultaneously. Fossilized human footprints and three-toed dinosaur tracks occur in the same rock stratum…. That dinosaurs existed with humans is an important discovery disproving the evolutionists’ theory that dinosaurs lived 70 million years before man. God created dinosaurs on the sixth day. He created man later the same day.”
The ACE, (Accelerated Christian Education®) curriculum is being used in a number of Louisiana schools that receive public funding as a result of Jindal’s publicly funded voucher program.
ACE claims that it maintains “high Biblical and academic standards and remained committed to setting children on a path for success. The goal is the same today: to prepare children for the world today and give them the academic and spiritual tools necessary to achieve their God-given potential.”
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“In a desperate attempt to keep the ‘sinking ship’ of evolution afloat, recent ‘scientists’ have proposed a new theory. This theory states that certain organisms experienced (for some unexplained reason) a dramatic genetic disturbance that hurled them across the gap left by the missing links. This theory, called the ‘hopeful monster’ theory, has no scientific basis.” ( Accelerated Christian Education, Science 1107)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Unbelievable. I am speechless. Thank you for calling this out.
Hopeful Monster Theory!!!!! Since when is there any such thing outside of the creationists imagination. The Flying Spaghetti Monster perhaps but that was created to point of the fallacious arguments made by Intelligent Design.
Romney giving Jiindal the time of day for any education position is beyond ridiculous. This is like giving the president of Exxon the position of EPA director.
Any position for Jindal would be such a huge mistake! He could become the president of the Ego Club!
My state board of education is getting closer and closer to requiring this sort of teaching in all public schools in the state. It may be possible for students and parents to find an alternative where well trained teachers are allowed to teach actual science, but the public school may be the only school available, especially in rural areas. What do you think about home school? Would this be a good a good alternative?
Many home schoolers use the creationist textbooks. It is a big market for ACE.
That is the state of things now. Soon creationist texts will be required by our public school boards and parents who wish to have their children learn science will have to seek private schools or educate their cchildren themselves. I hope they will be allowed the choice to do that.
And who says the footprints were not from a large Gila Monster (a modern desert lizard) or a Monitor Lizard (a modern lizard who can be 7 feet long) or even a capybara—a large rodent as much as 5 feet in length that lives in Texas and New Mexico or even a big nutria, a similar rodent that lives in the swamps of Louisiana. (Looks like a beaver with a rat tail and orange teeth) And the foot prints, a Cajun or South Texan out getting some dinner or out to trap a gator!
One of Bobby Jindal’s main advisors is Gene Mills, the president of Louisiana Family Forum. Some of the Family Forum groups have been designated as anti-gay hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They are also new earth creationists so Bobby would probably not mind at all the use of ACE in the charters. After all,he slipped into his law that teachers in charters did not have to have a college education, so they probably would not know any better.
But what troubles me more than teaching creationism as science, which could be un-taught by one remedial course at the local communty college when the students are ready for higher education, is their history and social studies curriculum. I have not yet had access to the whole thing, but the Ku Klux Klan is described in ACE as a community group that worked with local officials to re-establish morality in the community! I find that even more dangerous and deplorable. Can you picture teaching that to black children? Can you see the news story of the demonstration out front the next day! Huge sucker! Hundreds. Jesse Jackson AND Al Sharpton! Which is where they need to be now, running their loud mouths fighting against the corporatization of the schools.
Wow… they’re citing the footprints as evidence even though they were thoroughly investigated in the 1980’s and found to be not human, but rather eroded versions of the same 3-toed dinosaur that left the other tracks? Even most creationists accept those findings!!
One of Bobby’s main advisors is Gene Mills, president of Lousiana Family Forum, a hate group affiliated with Focus on the Family and the American Family Association. These groups are anti everything and are a major source of financial support for Jindal. They are also new world creationists.
One of their groups in Georgia a few years ago temporarily got stickers put in the biology books used in Cobb County Schools (Newt Gingrich country) saying that evolution was just a theory. The more liberal people in Cobb (Influence of Atlanta is strong even though Cobb is one of the most conservative voting districts in America), lead by an atheist father with a child n the schools, sued back and got the stickers taken out. Of course the teachers had to do both the sticking and unsticking.
I remember when the Biology teacher at South Cobb High taught about evolution, he defined it as CHANGE and said little more than that. He did not elaborate and took the class lizard, about 3 feet long, out of its aquarium and petted it as he discussed dinosaurs. I witnessed this. It was a little bizarre. He was about a 2nd year teacher without tenure. It was like he was being very careful what he said.
Cobb had a military guy as their superintendent. Most teachers never saw him because he rarely visited the schools, always sending out underlings. He apparently swiped some computer money or got a kickback and left abruptly. They were big into hiring ex-military to run their schools for a while. Great nurturing there! They were also notorious for abusing their teachers, especially white females who were the majority. They had the largest legal department of any system in the state.
After getting curriculum materials from ACE, perhaps Chik-Fil-A can run the cafeterias.
States that teach ID have lower teen homicide rates and suicide rates than those states that teach evolution. Wonder why?
Can I get a citation for these statistics?
Don’t hold your breath while you wait for such a citation.
None exists.
I did not think I would get one, but that is true for almost everything posted here.
There’s an enormous difference between intelligent design and the bizarre belief that dinosaurs and humans existed at the same time. One can believe that the universe is ordered, purposeful, rational–and, yes, divinely created–without rejecting science. Indeed, one could argue that religious believers especially should hold science in the highest regard, because it is the tool through which humanity can explore and understand physical creation. Since Catholics do not hold with a literal translation of the Bible, I doubt very much that Bobby Swindle believes much of what is in the ACE curriculum. So, one could argue that Jindal–by allowing publicly funded schools to teach ideas that are demonstrably untrue so that he can continue to destroy public education–is an instrument of the devil.
Lest we be too critical of this brand of junk science, we must reflect on the atrocious research by the NSF-MSP. As a physician, I was stunned by the Oregon Math Leadership Institute that was funded through the NSF around 6 years ago as means to get the “fuzziest” math put in schools with “fidelity.”
Forgive me when I blow a gasket that there is no informed consent–and that is legal.
Forgive me when I blow a gasket that bureaucrats at the NSF told me that educational research was somehow different than medical research.
On the other hand, published research in medicine is not so clear cut anymore. Previously, one could feel assured that peer-reviewed research in the “good” journals (versus the trade journal throwaways) wouldn’t steer you in the wrong direction.
Medicine has been co-opted too with the “good” intentions of the market.
Long live capitalism!
But where will all those capitalists live when climate change sweeps away there gated community?
Just curious about the long live capitalism here. In my lifetime the most popular alternative to a liberal market based economies was the Marxist Soviet Union. The leading biological scientific researcher of the period was Trofim Denisovich. If you don’t know his story, it is worth learning to see how scientific research worked in the former Soviet Union.
It appears that capitalism and political agendas stand in the way of giving student a solid educational foundation in America. So why does America rank low against other countries in science? The lack of holding true value to education and hidden, political, religious and capitalist agendas are the answer. Not poor teaching or schools. When will this ever get addressed?
I certainly worry about religious agendas in science classes, but I am not sure why a “capitalist agenda” would lead to incorrect science being taught. Could you explain a bit more?
Capitalists want to make a profit so they don’t care if something is accurate they will create it to fit a persons agenda. If someone will pay for the product they will make it not worrying about if it is accurate or not.