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Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone

by Mark Jabo

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California’s new high school science textbook….

Politicians attempting to influence school curriculum is not new. So, it’s no surprise that some politician in California finally got around to submitting a proposal to make it mandatory to teach global warming in schools.

State Senator Joe Simitian wants to make sure that only textbooks that preach climate change be allowed in California public schools.

“You can’t have a science curriculum that is relevant and current if it doesn’t deal with the science behind climate change,” said Simitian. “This is a phenomenon of global importance and our kids ought to understand the science behind that phenomenon.”

Scientists don’t even understand the science behind climate change, but somehow we’re going to teach it to fourth-graders.

If “relevant” and “current” are the standards by which science education is judged, as opposed to … oh, I don’t know, incidental things like “evidence” and “scientific method,” then we might as well start teaching the “science” behind how you can look years younger with “better than Botox” skin care products.

You don’t have to look any further than the last two years’ hurricane predictions to know that we’re still a little fuzzy on the whole cause-and-effect behind climate change.

If you’re going to insist that your science curriculum presents climate change science as established fact you might as well use Parade Magazine for your text book.

Last time I checked, the U.S. was just above Mexico and solidly behind Poland in the world science rankings. Substituting junk science for fundamentals isn’t going to help improve that ranking anytime soon.

global warming, climate change, junk science, better than Botox, Parade Magazine


One Response to “Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone

  1. Christopher Says:

    To those “keywords” at the bottom of this blog, you might like to include the following…

    loons, environmedicationists, claptrap, dogma, californication, Greencease, polymorphic paradimes, taurus excetia, grass rectumology……

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About Environmental Talk

Environmental Talk is a blog that attempts to do the impossible . . . which is to have a reasoned and nuanced approach to the science and issues surrounding global warming. At the same time, we are not above taking the occasional potshot at the extremists and posers on both sides of the topic.

As a global warming agnostic, blogger/moderator Mark Jabo attempts to come down squarely on the side of finding humor in what is, too often, a needlessly contentious topic.

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