Altered school books given board approval

Nov. 6, 2004, 1:32AM

Altered school books given board approval
Texts rewritten to define marriage as between a man and a woman
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
RESOURCES
The Texas adoption process was being watched around the nation because books adopted for Texas often are marketed to smaller states.
• Books specified: Texas is one of 21 states that reviews textbooks according to state guidelines and then mandates specific books that schools must choose from.
• For example: Districts now will choose from four high-school health books from three different publishers.
AUSTIN - New public school health textbooks that teach abstinence exclusively and address concerns about homosexuality by defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman were adopted Friday.


Only one of 14 State Board of Education members present at the meeting voted against the books, which were widely criticized for failing to provide information to help teens avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Dallas Democrat Mavis Knight said she voted against the books because they failed to include required information about contraceptives.

Two publishers agreed to make minor changes after some board members Thursday expressed concern that the books tacitly endorsed same-sex marriages by references to "partners" instead of "husbands and wives."

Holt, Rinehart and Winston included the following sentence in its health books for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders: "Marriage is a lifelong union between a husband and a wife."

However, Holt did not adopt controversial language in its teacher editions suggesting that homosexuals and lesbians are more prone to self-destructive behaviors.

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill changed a few references in its two high school books. For example, "When two people decide to marry ... " became "When a man and a woman decide to marry ... "

Board member Terri Leo, R-Spring, had argued that the neutral language about "partners" legitimized homosexuality in violation of a Texas law that prevents state agencies from recognizing same-sex marriages or civil unions.

"I'm extremely happy," Leo said. "I really wanted a definition of marriage between a man and a woman to be in the book."

Randall Ellis, executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, said the books left out any information that might have given gay and lesbian students a sense of belonging.

"The books talk about abstinence until marriage. That's not an option for gay and lesbian students. So they feel alienated right there," said Ellis.

Most of the reaction to the adoption focused on the high school books' lack of information to meet a curriculum requirement that students "analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods" in preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

More than 200 people testified on the books during public hearings in July and September.

Many speakers said the books should stress abstinence but also wanted the material to provide medically accurate, age-appropriate contraceptive information.

Others said that including birth-control information in the texts would send teens a mixed message.

Charts listing types of contraceptives, their failure rates and protection they offer from diseases are included in the teacher editions of the books, but were omitted from student editions.

Leo said she thinks those charts should be in the teacher books only.

"It's highly sensitive material and the reason the Legislature wrote an abstinence-based law is to give parents an opt-out," said Leo.

She said that the required half-year high school health course was never meant to be comprehensive sex education.

"Because this basic information is not in students' editions, most students will never see it," said Peggy Romberg, chief executive officer of the Women's Health and Family Planning Association of Texas.

The board also adopted new materials for fine arts and foreign language classes.

The state is expected to spend $378 million on the books, which replace 11-year-old texts.

A report released in September from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute said the Texas process leads to sanitized books written to avoid offending anyone who might complain at textbook adoption hearings in big states.

The report recommended allowing local districts, and even individual teachers, to choose their textbooks.

janet.elliott@chron.com

[willey]

"The books talk about abstinence until marriage. That's not an option for gay and lesbian students. So they feel alienated right there," said Ellis.

Gay and Lesbian students don't have the willpower to avoid sexual contact????

Many states refuse the right to marriage Thats the point.

[shedthemonkey]

It basicly says they must NEVER have sex. Not a palatable situation for any hormone driven individual.

It's going to get worse before it gets better. When my daughter was in the 8th grade, she came home from public school with a note from the teacher for me to go buy a specific 'translation' of the bible for science class. Oklahoma had started teaching 'creationism' as science. I raised holy hell and the program was dropped. This was during the clinton years when I would have had some backup. Yesterday I read that a town in Wisconsin has started teaching creationism as science.

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

Yesterday I read that a town in Wisconsin has started teaching creationism as science.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

I read that too...

What happened to learning the a b c's and the capitals of states.... why they have to teach religous ideals...

what happened to seperate church and state?

gone with the republican dictators

"What happened to learning the a b c's and the capitals of states.... why they have to teach religous ideals... "

I agree schools need to teach reading, writing and math.

But I have also seen this thing from the other end. Remember the rainbow coalition ? I found there agenda all over my kids school one year you know teaching johnny has to mommys and more. They should really leave the religious and social stuff for the parents at home. IMO

Peace...

it's properly called
the intelligent design theory,
creationism is a disparaging term.
i see nothing wrong with admitting that intelligent design of life forms is possibility,
as long as it's kept general and not tied into
any specific religion's creation myth.
the constitution states that the government must not establish religion or give religious preference,
but the notion of intelligent design is not restricted to any religion nor does one even need to be religious to consider the possibility that life on earth might have been 'created' by some intelligence, which might not even be 'god'
but could have been some ET species billions of years ago.
rigid insistance that only blind random mutations explain changes in lifeforms over time
is not real science as it cannot be proven.
real science should examine all the possibilities, which includes intelligent design.

If they are going to teach something about morality and creationism - it should include all the major belief systems in the world with mention of all possibilities and hypothesis of wise men and an emphasis on acceptance. That is one thing msny religious people don't have even in this religiously tolerant country.