Resolution on Science Textbooks Adopted by the Texas State Republican Executive Committee

WHEREAS, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is currently approving science textbooks to be used in the middle schools and high schools of Texas for the next 6-8 years; and,

WHEREAS, review of the textbooks is now underway by experts and lay individuals alike; and,

WHEREAS, the reviews of the textbooks that have been done have revealed considerable factual error, as well as error of omission; and WHEREAS, the textbook reviews have also identified that many issues (such as global warming, overpopulation, sustainable development, to name but a few) that are the center of serious debate among the scientists of the world, and by no means resolved by the scientific findings now available, are presented as though they were fact, not providing the student with a balanced approach regarding arguments from both sides of the issue; and

WHEREAS, while the textbooks are very one-sided in their presentation of many issues, they declare that they are presenting the student with a balanced picture, increasing the student’s vulnerability to being influenced by the one-sided non-scientific presentation; and, WHEREAS, the use of the Hegelian Dialectic to change a student’s thinking, in fact to change the thinking of an entire culture, is one of the hallmarks of persuasion for the socialist cause. It offers a thesis, an antithesis, and resolves the argument between the two with a synthesis, which is presented to avoid a crisis (e.g., private property vs. communal property, resolved by government control of private property to avoid destruction of the planet); and

WHEREAS, we as a nation are great among all the nations of the world because of our unique system of governing, and because, in their wisdom, the Founding Fathers recognized that each of us has been bestowed with individual liberties by God, and the government exists to protect those liberties; now therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED that the State Republican Executive Committee call upon the governor, the lieutenant governor and the members of the SBOE, to request a delay in the approval of the science textbooks, until appropriate in-depth reviews can be done and the SBOE can be totally informed as to the content of the textbooks, prior to adoption; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the SREC encourages the Commissioner of Education, the Texas Education Agency, the SBOE and local school boards to closely review textbooks to ensure they provide balanced and factual information based on sound science, and that those issues that are not clearly accepted by the entire scientific community as fact be presented showing both sides of the issue in a balanced way, so that the student is not influenced as to which side is more correct, until the scientists themselves have reached consensus; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the SREC urge the SBOE to vote unanimously to reject any textbook that offers unsubstantiated opinions for sound science or any textbook that seeks to undermine our children’s belief in America or our Constitutional Republic; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the SREC call upon the Texas State Legislature to address the method of textbook adoption in the 2003 legislative session, placing the burden of proof on the publishers, so that publishers are required to guarantee that textbooks purchased with Texas tax dollars contain only factual academic material, not propaganda and opinion; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State Republican Executive Committee encourages all conservative activists in the state to assist in appropriate review of the science textbooks in each school district in Texas, prior to the adoption by the local school boards.