After a late night meeting on Thursday, science textbooks for the classrooms of the state were selected by the Board of Education, Texas. However it has rejected to approve the Biology textbook which had errors in it regarding the evolution theory. The Biology textbook which was disapproved but not rejected totally and was put up for expert check. Three members team was set up to do the error check. These members are the outside expert who would check the textbook for mistakes. The textbook is published by one of the largest publishing house named Pearson.
There has always been a divide between the creationists and the academics. The creationist believe that the world has been created by God and the academics believe in scientific facts are behind the evolution of the universe. Therefore there has always been a continuous fight among the ideology of the two sections which gets reflected in the textbooks and the curriculum of the schools in Texas. The laws of the states clearly allow the schools to choose their own textbooks and do not have to follow the books approved by the Education Board of the state. However schools have always followed the approved books selected by the Board of Education.
It has become a national issue as books selected by the Texas Board of Education is also used outside Texas. The committees which was set up for reviewing the textbooks submitted by the several publishing house of the state comprises of the creationist, conservative and former members of the Board of Education.
They are the volunteers who will review the content of the textbooks on the basis of their beliefs. Some volunteers believe that the theory of creationism according to the Bible should be taught in science classes across the classrooms of the state. Some argued that the weather change theory is not a scientific theory and so the book which proposes this should be rejected.
However several publishers across the state did not like the idea of making the changes suggested by the reviewers. They also believed that this process was of no help but only helped in delaying the approval for the textbooks.
A Republican criticised the process of reviewing of the textbooks by the members who had business degrees is laughable. They would decide whether the earth took 4 billion years or 4.2 billion years was funny. He also added that the book is being delayed and stalled as they want to make some changes which are basically ideological and political changes.
