The Texas state Board of Education made headlines again after wading into another controversy over the teaching of evolution in the state - and the teaching of how old our universe is. Textbook publishers have to cater to Texas because it represents such a large part of the market, so it's possible this change to Texas' learning standards could affect other states, according to this New York Times article. An excerpt:
"Failing to overhaul the curriculum broadly, (Texas) conservatives instead attached a series of measures specific to subjects like biology, where teachers would be newly required to "analyze and evaluate the sufficiency or insufficiency of natural selection to explain the complexity of the cell." In the earth-science curriculum, conservatives weakened language concerning "the concept of an expanding universe" to address instead "current theories of the evolution of the universe including estimates for the age of the universe."
Kelly Puente joined the Press-Telegram in 2006 as an editorial assistant and eventually worked her way up to general assignement reporter. Over the years, she’s covered everything from crime and breaking news to human interest and the cities of Bellflower and Cerritos. Kelly is a Long Beach resident and graduate of Cal State Long Beach. She’s new to the education beat and is looking for great stories.
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