Texas Schoolbook Massacre
Well, I was going to totally ignore this but when a story appears in both the New York Times and the BBC it must be a pretty important international story, or they are both using the same source for their Off-Beat / Strange / Bizarre fillers.
Basically a failed fundamentalist candidate for the state educational authority in Texas is claiming that social studies textbooks are pro-Islam and anti-Christian, and the state must not buy any more of these texts. This guy won’t be satisfied until the only book in public schools is the Bible.
The only reason anyone cares is that Texas buys a lot of textbooks, and publishers tend to pander to their whacko prejudices to make the sales.
If the whacko is looking for “pro-Islam” textbooks, he is in the wrong courses. He should be demanding the state cancel all math and science classes, because much of the basic work in those fields was done by Muslims during Europe’s so-called “Dark Ages”. He apparently missed the clue that we use “Arabic” numerals in math and science, and al gebra is obviously not something he knows about.
It is people like this that make it really hard to go through life with a Southern accent.
7 comments
…boy, if ol’ Randy reads this and learns that ugly naked truth about our numbers and al gebra, it’s gonna be a mess around here when his haid ‘splodes….
Yes, Jack, they will be closing bookstores for selling weapons of math instruction. [rimshot!]
Groooaaan! (My comment is too short, says the comment censor. But it says everything I want to say.)
Flash! Stupidity and ignorance still firmly in saddle in the Lone Star State!
In other News, Canine masticates HomoSap and Ursines continue to defecate in the shrubberies.
As usual, it’s laugh or cry.
Gah such idiocy is enough to drive you to al kuhl!
There’s got to be something in the water down there in Texas that is creating a bunch of knuckledraggers. We are SO the laughing stocks of the world.
Yes, Steve, that limitation on comments drives me nuts too. There are times when all I want to do is leave a emoticon, but it gets rejected. I stole that from someone a while ago.
Don’t get too cocky, PJ, it keeps Florida out of the education news.
The worst of it, Jams, is that Muslim learning went into decline after… the fundamentalists took over Islam. It’s a constant cycle, just like the Hindus claim.
It’s a matter of respect, CJ. Anyone thumping a Bible loud enough is automatically given the respect usually reserved for people with education and training.