TEA and the Science Teacher

When Chris Comer was fired as head of the Science Curriculum for the
State of Texas few noticed. Then copies of emails and discipline
reports surfaced. A reporter at the Austin American Statesman, Laura
Heinauer, wrote a article about the firing.

Laura Heinauer soon found she had a story that others wanted to
hear. Bloggers went nuts, The New York Times did two articles about
Ms. Comer's firing. Newspapers around the country and a few overseas
soon made notice of what The State of Texas and the TEA were up to.

What seemed to shock most folks is that the people directly involved
in firing Ms. Comer were not only not educators, but were also known
as Creationists. Just as the curriculum was up for review, it became
apparent to some in the TEA that the science teacher had to go.

With shades of the Kansas debacle in my head, I am personally outraged
that our State Government appears to be on a witch-hunt to rid
itself of those who do not believe Intelligent Design is a science.
Over a year ago, TEA employees were told to limit travel and were
specifically told that if Creationism is the party line you must
abide by it.

As many at the TEA run for cover over the mess they have stirred up,
it does not seem to have pierced their very limited brain cells that
we once again are the laughing stock of the world . I'm sure they
could not have possibly noticed that the United States again fell in
the rankings on math and science scores (darn those Fins for being so
smart.)

With all that in mind, I've come up with a short list of places for our
kiddos to visit during the holiday season that will surely pass any
litmus test administered by those fine people at the TEA.

Run, don't walk, to the Fred and Wilma Museum in Kansas. Ken Ham took
27 million dollars to create a museum dedicated to showing people and
dinosaurs living on the earth at the same time. Mr. Ham actually
calls it the Creation Museum, but for some reason, the Fred and Wilma
moniker stuck. There you can watch panoramas featuring cave children
cavorting with small dinosaurs. Mr Ham insists that the sharp
teeth Dino has are just for eating vegetables, not folks.

When they have completed the tour at Fred and Wilma's, they can then
give the fine folks at BC Tours a call. The BC stands for biblically
correct. Here folks
load on a bus together to go to world class museums devoted to
technology
and proceed to challenge, harass and argue with docents about
science. Like an angry mob (minus the torches and farm implements) they
proceed to
disrupt learning for the rest of us. Museums have now been forced to
spend limited funds on special training for its docents to teach them
how to be polite yet firm with these folks that have nothing better
to do with their time then harass someone who spent the better part
of their lives devoted to learning.

On a personal note I hope Chris Comer finds a new job. I hope it is
a better job. She needs it, she supports a son in college and a
elderly disabled father. And, as far as I know, she has yet to find
employment.

Merry Christmas Ms. Comer!