Apparently this from a high school in Arizona.
Here is more courtesy of Addicting Info:
At this time it should be noted again that this is not meant to be used in a sexual education class; this is for students’ biology textbooks. Discussing the scientific reality of things like birth control and STDs are apparently too much. And in fact, this was the conservative school board’s idea of a “compromise.” They had originally wanted to quite literally cut out the pages of the science book that made mention of abortion.
Last school year, Gilbert’s administrators proposed “editing” the textbook to align it with Arizona’s conservative views on abortion and abstinence. “The cheapest, least disruptive way to solve the problem is to remove the page,” said one board member, apparently unaware that science doesn’t just cease to exist if you hide it.
Several months later, they had second thoughts. For one thing, slicing out pages of copyrighted textbooks is probably illegal. For another, it would have cost a fortune. Instead, the conservative board members decided to utilize a common creationist tactic: stickers that tell students to ignore their own textbooks because of how dangerous it is.
This is so many shades of fucked up that I don't even know where to begin.
Hell no wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves.
Gilbert has a HUGE Morman community
ReplyDeleteDoesn't give them the right to NOT teach a science text in a public school. I know several Mormon families...most of them have four or five boys, no girls. The boys march off to 'mission' right out of high school, where they are taught to proselytize and confront people for Jesus..or magic underwear. Pretty sad. One of my former students spent a year at BYU, then went to SWEDEN for his mission..Sweden? Yeah, I hear the Mormon Church is booming over there...or not. Anyway, he's back, and preaching tomorrow. I invited to attend, but golly, I can't imagine what a 21 year old sheltered young man would have to teach me. They are welcome to their religion, but keep the rest of us out of it.
DeleteI despise Mormons!
DeleteSweden? I had a Mormon student who was sent to Honolulu!
DeleteAdoption is now a multibillion dollar industry in the U.S., and vulnerable teenage girls are a prime target: Gimme your baby, the agency says. You'll forget. You'll get over it.
DeleteThey don 't forget.
"Gilbert has a HUGE Morman community"
DeleteAnd there you are!
Really? What an insane act!
ReplyDeleteWTF is RIGHT!?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2015/08/22/racist-trump-link-baltimore-ferguson-uprisings-illegal-immigrant-gangs.html
This is exactly why Republicans want to get rid of the Department of Education. Don't let the local religious nut jobs institute this type of BS!
ReplyDeleteHa, ha. They don't even pretend to defend their opinions. If the student has questions, it's the parents that are on the hook.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, the Internet is a thing. Students aren't at the mercy of their textbooks, teachers, preachers, parents. The sticker might just have well said "google it, dummy".
My sentiments exactly. Their peer social network is much stronger, faster and wider than any of their textbook stickers. The best line that sums up the entire article, "...[they are] apparently unaware that science doesn’t just cease to exist if you hide it."
DeleteHowever, in order for the religion to work, you've got to do everything you can to show you believe in it. It's definitely going to boil down to generation tradition vs generation 21st Century.
The Gilbert AZ School District just issued a Cover Your Ass with the hope their students will keep their pants up. And, if someone Fs up it is not the districts responsibility.
ReplyDeleteAnd right after they affixed those stickers I can see the science teachers saying "Okay, I've done what I was ordered to do. If you peel those stickers off your books, not my problem." wink wink.
DeleteOne wonders what "the State of Arizona's strong interest in promoting childbirth and adoption over elective abortions" really amounts to.
ReplyDeleteLet's see the dollars in the AZ state budget allocated to paying poor pregnant women for all their pre-natal care and the costs billed when a women bears a child in, say, a hospital.
Let's see the allocations in the budget for orphanages, for foster care.
I'll bet the dollars don't even come close to matching the need already, let alone if more women bore children to be adopted or handed over to the State to care for.
And that's only one small part of why I think that sticker is oh, so wrong on so many levels.
It looks like Suzanne Young had to close her Twitter account because of harassment from Palin Far Right.
ReplyDeleteBecause we all know abstinence prevents pregnancy, right Sarah?
ReplyDeleteI guarantee that those stickers were all defaced within a few minutes of getting into the students' hands. Don't sweat the small stuff.
ReplyDeleteWe had a teacher attempt this nonsense by handing out addendum to include christian creation myth in science class. She AND her addendum were booted out and real science was taught in class. But it wasn't made into law nor included in the curricular materials. WTF Arkansa, indeed.
ReplyDeleteWe all know how well pausing before you play, or not playing at all is a sure fire detriment to teenage pregnancy.
And FWIW, "Adoption" isn't always all it's cracked up to be. The man I married was adopted, and found his birth mother, who married and had other children with the same man she had kids with who were put up for adoption. Finding her didn't give him closure nor the answers he is entitled to know (genetic disposition to diseases, etc, why some of us and not others?, etc. etc.) I may be partial, but why check off "yes" on the adoption forms about sharing her name once he turned 18? Not knowing would have been more humane.
His adoptive family weren't exactly "the Cleavers", but neither are all parents, he still calls them his real parents, loves and respects them and has lived his life to make them proud.
I made a mistake, "WTF Arkansas" should be WTF Arizona".
ReplyDelete...and it's no wonder why young people are leaving the CHURCH in droves.
ReplyDeleteBefore I retired I taught in the classroom and for the last decade was a teacher librarian. I have an MLIS and am National Board Certified.
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you what a librarian would do.
First, if we were issued those stickers to place in the textbooks, we'd toss them in the trash.
Second, if our textbooks were defaced with such stickers they would be removed, neatly crossed out or covered with a blank sticker.
Librarians: The only ones standing between you and the F.B.I.
Don't let our looks fool you. We are a feisty bunch.
I retired after 40 years of teaching, and yes I am a liberal. And yes, as so many conservatives fear, I did not hesitate to share my liberal views in my language arts classes.
ReplyDeleteI made clear I was expressing a personal opinion, usually saying "you are free to agree or disagree." I often played devil's advocate for positions in complete opposition to mine, and I encouraged students who disagreed with me to share their views.
Often students asked what would happen if they wrote something in an essay of which I might disagree. My response was, "I may well write on your essay I disagree, but I will never grade you down if you explain and support your opinion." Because opinions are just that, they are not fact.
My intent was simple, I wanted to engage students in critical thinking and discussion. I wanted them to see an issue from all sides and then choose their position supported with evidence and reasoning. Without the ability to think, reason, and discuss, there really isn't much point to education.
And finally I wanted students to know that one can be cordial and friends with individuals who share opinions contrary to one's own.
Some parents made it a point to steer their kids clear of me. And that was fine. Irrespective of the popular notion that schools are failing, they are not, and kids are pretty smart, especially when given the opportunity to think and express their opinions.
Stickers are for school districts that don't want teachers to teach.