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Gilbert, AZ Censors Biology Books the Old-Fashioned Way
nbauman writes The Gilbert, AZ school board has voted to tear out a page from Campbell's Biology (a standard highly-recommended textbook that many doctors and scientists fondly remember), because it discusses contraception without also discussing adoption. Julie Smith, a member of the Gilbert Public Schools governing board, said that she was a Catholic and "we do not contracept." Smith convinced the board that Campbell's violates Arizona law to teach "preference, encouragement and support to childbirth and adoption" over abortion. The Arizona Education Department decided that the pages didn't violate Arizona law, but nevermind. Rachel Maddow generously risked hassles for copyright violation and posted the missing pages as a service to Arizona honors biology students.
It appears the school board didn't care about what was on the other side of the same page? Most textbooks I have seen are printed on both sides, so they just threw out two pages of of the book. I have used Campbell in the past (though not the current edition) and I suspect by the time the book reached the second side of that page they were no longer talking about contraception or abortion.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Jesus Fucking Christ.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
contraception doing in a Biology textbook? Shouldn't that be taught in Health class?
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
How Long before religion puts us back into the dark ages? No scientific book should be censored, simply added to as our understanding evolves, they may not agree to teach the subject without the addtion of adoption, but that is not a biological process as contraception is....
But when it's removal of the pages of opposing views of AGW - Censorship is aok because SCIENCE!
“I’m Catholic; we do not contracept,” Ms. Smith said. “It is a grave sin.” By including those pages in the curriculum, she added, “you have violated my religious rights.”
Her agenda is to make everyone Catholic.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
This will all but guarantee that every student in the school system will read the page the school board is removing. Everyone knows that the quickest way to encourage a teen to seek out and read something is to remove it or ban it and tell them its not permitted.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
why we let religious loonies dictate what can and what can't be taught. Separation of church and state my ass!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Doing the work to make sure people know The Truth*.
*when it fits a liberal world view.
It's funny, I acutally disagree with the school board, but only this kind of crap gets posted here because, SCIENCE!
But if it was about questioning global warming info being removed there would be crickets.
Now if the past holds true, watch my post get deleted... Or hidden.
What is going to be the demise of the United States of America?
Terrorists? If you look at the new laws and the level of spying done on its citizens since september 11 of 2001, the terrorists won over a decade ago.
Food poisoning? If you look at what the FDA approves such as high fructose corn syrup and GMO foods, the mega-corporations won decades ago too. When people see food labeled "Made in USA" they don't buy it anymore.
Economic recession? The rich are either protected by laws or they simply buy their way out of almost any problem and the middle class is being crushed into bankruptcy by the rich who keep exporting manufacturing and jobs to save a few cents and get even richer. It's already happening.
The public perception of the USA is now associated with NSA, spying, insecurity, etc. Some countries are already seeing anything "Made in USA" as a bad thing and will prefer alternatives.
But even with all that, you let stupid and ignorant religious zealots push you around and even make up laws to appease these fucking morons?
The founding fathers would be ashamed of you.
om the original article:
“I’m Catholic; we do not contracept,” Ms. Smith said. “It is a grave sin.” By including those pages in the curriculum, she added, “you have violated my religious rights.”
“I’m American; we do not censor education,” vomitology said. “It is a grave sin.” By removing those pages in the curriculum, he added, “you have violated children's educational rights.”
FTFY
~Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
albeit not in all most efficient ways so bitch was factually incorrect and was just preaching something she did not understand. That is something that many people do also (OMG) not catholics.....
when it fits a liberal world view.
That may be true, but things ultimately work because people of all world views have a platform to ensure 'the truth' they think is suppressed is heard. slashdot may be only good for the 'liberal' world view, but there's no shortage of 'conservative' oriented sites.
Of course, 'liberal' and 'conservative' aren't consistently applicable terms. People demanding the right to do whatever they want with guns would be 'conservative', people demanding the right to do whatever they want with drugs would be labeled 'liberal', but oh well.
I don't like the censorship, but would it be fair to discuss if the material is more than tangentially relevant in a biology textbook?
I admit, I haven't taken a bio course in about 25 years. I could conceive of this in a sex ed class (not that that would happen in arizona), a reproductive biology class.... a medical class, a human biology class.
But page 545 in particular (I don't have context of the text) look suspiciously like attempts to advocate... human contraception.
So I kind of see two possibilities here:
1) It's a very introductory text, where students don't understand that preventing unity of the sperm and egg will inhibit reproduction. In which case it's probably still irrelevant...
2) It's in some sub section on human reproduction or bio... and.. it's again irrelevant because nobody's going to be performing experimental vasectomies on humans.
I don't object to students learning this -- but I don't think stealing time and pages from a science class for... social/sexual ed issues is the appropriate place.
Seriously, ALL OF YOU, keep your politics out of science. Even if Republicans bring it in, keep the politics out.
People want to teach biology, sure... cover the reproductive system. Cover the reproductive system of mammals.... the special tissues, and processes.
But human contraception efficacy? It's barely relevant.
by her logic sex before mirage is wrong therefor why teach kids at all ? when they are married then the priest has a sit down with you. No but seriously protect yourselves from STI's and unwanted pregnancy wrap the toll yeah fool !
Evil is comparatively rare, ignorance is epidemic. - Jon Stewart
Meanwhile, the Cathloic school I attended was more than happy to explain all forms of contraception, and making mention that there's a risk that it won't always work. The Catholic school also noted a form of contraception based around when the female partner has the period, a form of contraception fully sanctioned by the Catholic church.
Biological Teaching is a Clear and Present Danger to Christianity:
- It teaches Evolution - contrary to Creation story in the Bible
- It teaches a long biological history (billions of years) - contrary to the Bible Creation story (6,000-10,000 years old)
- It teaches Humans have a common descent with Apes - contrary to Biblical Garden of Eden with Adam & Eve
- It teaches Common Descent, all life is related in a family tree - contrary to Biblical Creation story
Evidence-backed biology with centuries of testable models of life vs a 2,000 year book of untestable claims.
Conclusion: Burn the biology book for challenging the teachings of the Bible!
Let's just go back to the Dark Ages before science started to bring such dangerous concepts to the world...
Contraception is part of biology. Adoption isn't.
Now if the biology textbook refused to talk about the biology of childbirth and the regular hormonal cycles, conception and pregnancy absent of contraception, that would be a glaring omission in a biology textbook. But adoption is a social, not a biological phenomenon.
I've taken a look at the pages removed. They don't really cover any social aspects of contraception, just saying that contraception is the name for deliberate methods of preventing pregnancy. And a number of pages are removed covering regular pregnancy and its processes, and also methods for overcoming infertility. All without any value statements. Strictly the biological part of stuff.
This is not the act of a "school board": this is exclusively a choice of keeping people uneducated for political reasons.
It's a deliberate act of vandalism on education and knowledge.
If Ms. Smith happens to be catholic, no one will make a significant production of it (well, obviously excepting when Ms. Smith makes a production of it herself). Most catholics are reasonable people, but in *any* population there are overly fanatic people, like Ms. Smith.
If a person is gay, there remains a significant chance that person will face persecution even if they don't intrude upon others and are not at all fanatic, so they have a right to be a bit defensive. There are fanatics that are over the top in ways that heterosexuals wouldn't get away with, but cry 'homophobe' if you are uncomfortable with them being that over the top (whether it's excessive affection in public or what amounts to sexual harassment if a straight person did it), but most are reasonable and conduct their romantic/sexual life like most heterosexual people.
Accepting gays is equivalent to accepting that Catholics do not use contraception. Trying to discourage or prevent others from using or even learning about contraception is the equivalent of trying to force people to be gay.
The more religious, the more abusive and criminal they become. They need to remove this person from her position on the school board.
The shorter version: fuck Republican stupidity.
Why is Snark Required?
I looked at the other side of the age and it's about Embryonic Development.
This is just yet another issue that shows how religion is backwards and incompatible with modern society. This is the 21st century, people need to stop worshiping Iron Age gods and following its myths that have no place in modern society. This isn't about being Liberal or Conservative; this is about casting aside ignorance and outdated beliefs.
Until that happens, humanity will be hard pressed to advance; because we haven't changed much in 3,000 years. We are still the cruel shallow ignorant bald apes that we were when the New Testament character Jesus preached.
Global Warming backed by data.
Opposition to contraception backed by religious beliefs - i.e. NO data but backed by superstitious belief in God.
Religious beliefs do not deserve respect.
“I’m Catholic; we do not contracept,” Ms. Smith said. “It is a grave sin.” By including those pages in the curriculum, she added, “you have violated my religious rights.”
Assuming that contraception is a sin, is reading about how it works a sin?
Killing is a sin. Reading about killing is a sin?
What is a sin and what is not is not up to Ms. Smith to decide for others, just for herself. The page didn't put her on contraception, so her rights don't appear to have been violated.
Religion is a hobby; something you do in your spare time. Your hobby shouldn't interfere with other people's lives.
Bert
Right there in the law. Many cases to say that students cannot be charged for any extracurricular activities run by the school (athletics and band, most particularly), unless you get a consumable to take home (e.g. you can be charged for clay in an art class or wood in a shop class, because you get to take the product home). No security deposits, no "cleaning fees", no nothin'. All there in Art IX, Section 5 of the California Constitution: public school is free.
A couple years ago the ACLU sued the state and many school districts for charging fees, and came to a settlement agreement.
https://www.aclusocal.org/cases/doe-v-california/school-fees/
Doesn't stop schools from trying to charge, but the simple fact is that they are illegal. You also cannot set up some sort of "means tested" scholarship program.
Leading case here is Hartzell vs Connell, which was about cheerleading in Santa Barbara. Tons of info about this online
Mind you, as a parent, if you have the income to support the fees, there is a rationale to not stand on your principles: it's your kid that will suffer for your principles, and suffer they will. Wait til they graduate, then file the forms for a refund, or litigate if needed.
in preference to childbirth or adoption. A significant percentage of students will get pregnant, even if taught properly about contraception, because that's what teenagers do. Giving birth means that both teenagers and their children will miss out on a big part of what life has to offer. Early abortion is medically safer than childbirth and not ethically questionable. Any good biology textbook would make it obvious that a fetus in early stages of development is further from a thinking, self aware human being than a chicken or a dog.
Conservatives have no trouble taking a stand. They win because progressives and everyone in the middle is too nice or cowardly to do the same thing. Textbook authors should refuse to compromise on science and publishers should decline to publish drivel or allow adulterated works.
After the big bang and evolution big bombs the Pope just laid out this past summer/fall (he believes in them), I wonder what his take on this would be. Seeing as how this stupid woman used 'being a catholic' as an excuse to do it. There are some hints already that he thinks contraception is not necessarily a bad thing. Granted he didn't get all he wanted at this years synod, but he is a relatively young Pope and if he can avoid being poisoned, or some other "sickness" from schemers (I don't doubt they would resort to this in their still medieval world and power structure), I bet there is a good chance it will be revisited. He is also against using religious beliefs and the catholic church as a means to achieve political power; which from what I understand has pissed off a lot of Bishops and Cardinals who likely have profited from using this as a tool for their "success".
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
It's time to start culling the stupid and religous from society before they ruin things even more.
During the last Holocaust against the Humans of Gaza by the racist depravities of Israel, every single member of the Senate and the House of Representatives in Washington voted to give their absolute support to the sickening Crimes against Humanity - led by America's NEXT President, Rand Paul (most of you betas don't know it yet, but Paul has been groomed to be the ultimate sheeple pleasing contender). How does this point link to the censorship of the biology text? Well only a beta would ask- and not already know.
The West is ruled by a Judaic elite representing the foul churches of Judaism, Islam and Modern Christianity. Most US sheeple, including a good proportion of beta visitors here, don't even know that Islam is 90%+ the exact same thing as Judaism, sharing the same 'god', the same 'origin', the same observance traditions (like male mutilation and avoidance of port), the same prophets in the same Holy book.
In a 'Muslim' nation, sheeple (at the bottom) will experience 'nutty' Muslim 'leaders' interfering with how their kids are taught. In a 'Modern Christian' (MODERN because the religion invented by a Jewish Roman Emperor centuries after the death of Jesus had NOTHING to do with the fundamental principles of the original Christianity of the first followers of Christ, and EVERYTHING to do with forcing Jewish traditions and the Jewish Holy text (the Torah/Old Testament) into the lives of those calling themselves 'Christian'), sheeple will experience 'nutty' Modern Christian 'leaders' interfering with how their kids are taught.
Alphas are well aware of the pattern, seeing things, as always, from above. Betas have no such greater perception, and see things how their mainstream media tells them to see things.
There are NO MICROSCOPES ON MARS because the Judaic elites that control NASA at the highest level have yet to decide the consequences of having sheeple understand that extra-terrestrial life exists. Beats are told that 'good science' is king at NASA for obvious reasons, and to prevent them from 'smelling a rat', higher functioning betas are distracted with stories like this moronic censorship of the biology book.
However, the rabbit hole goes deeper. Science leaning betas are told that societal values must NEVER have a place in the teaching of science to fellow betas (alphas automatically apply higher life principles WITHOUT external instruction- look at the philosophical writing of any so-called 'genius) The elites want the TECHNOCRAT class to be AMORAL- a tool that moves however the elites so wish. Value judgements by members of the Technocrat class are NOT desired or wanted.
So Slashdot ALSO promotes stories like this one to IMPLY with the greatest strength that YOU, the technocrat beta class, should remain amoral and work in whichever direction your masters instruct you. You can judge that this example of censorship is fundamentally 'unsound' but an alpha would tell you that things are more complicated. Societal positions, even amongst defined subsets, are RELATIVE. But being a BETA, you think your societal positions come from a higher place. The issue of permitted forms of 'sexual behaviour' differs massively from society to society- and is almost due to some collection of arbitrary rules carefully imposed on the sheeple by certain NOT well meaning alphas.
True, most non-evil alphas would agree that widespread access to contraception is a GOOD thing, and so is widespread access to abortion (for those who WILLINGLY wish to avail themselves of such services). But the same alphas are well aware of the disgusting evil alphas who have exploited such concepts time and time again recently to IMPOSE forced contraception/abortion/sterilisation on Humans they literally see as no better than cattle.
A decent alpha might be very suspicious of a 'textbook' that promoted contraception, but was ideologically against mentioning adoption. A decent alpha would desire the sheeple to have EVERY possible option that might be a 'best fit' for their own circumstances and nature explained to them as well as possible. A decent alpha KNOWS the majority of people will (sadly) always be sheeple- but that NEVER means they deserved to be treated as 'cattle'.
Yes, I did just say that. Got a problem with it? Tough shit. We're living in a world where there are assholes out there right now who are cutting off people's heads, ostensibly because of their 'religious war', throwing acid in the faces of little schoolgirls, because they have the gall to actually want to learn to read, write, do math, and learn history, and exterminate entire populations, just because they don't believe in some 'god' the same exact way that they do, and in general be violent pieces of shit, all in the name of some so-called 'god'. Now, here in the United States, a country that is supposedly a top-tier first-world nation, a country that peoples from all over the Earth go out of their way to come to to get an education, we're intentionally vandalizing textbooks because something in it 'offends someones religion'. Note also that we're living in a Nation where a certain state government wanted to 'officially' make Pi equal to 3 instead of 3.1415.. because the actual value was too complicated for them. I'm sorry, but it's official: The human race is getting stupider, not smarter; we apparently are descending back into superstition, ignorance, and barbarism, and I am at a loss to explain why this is happening or what to do about it. I guess I can just hope that it doesn't all go so completely to hell during what's left of my lifetime that all of our civilization collapses under it's own deadweight.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
If Catholics want a clear conscience, should they not believe that purposely avoiding sex during a time of fertility is practicing contraception? However, if Catholics believe the pope infallible, the pope saying that purposely avoiding sex during a time of fertility is not practicing contraception makes it true for them. The rest of us may think otherwise. I find it nice that we can believe as we feel we should believe.
Whee, another chance to beat our chests and gloat about how superior we feel to those rubes.
You know how they're all into including other sides of the argument? Well, how about requiring them to teach the controversy of abortion vs. adoption, abortion vs. death of mother and/or baby, and adoption vs. abortion for rape-incest? That should get some healthy debate going among the pupils and provide loads of learning experiences for how to form coherent arguments, the difference between fact and opinion, the importance of evidence-based reason, and the importance of allowing people to hold their own opinions without fear of reprisals, how to examine issues and do background research, compensate for our logical fallacies and cognitive biases, hear all sides, and make up their own minds. You know, the kinds of individuals who are mature and well-informed and capable of dealing with all the challenges and problems that life's likely to throw at them. Or is that not what the AZ school board people want?
tl;dr - The school board don't want pupils thinking for themselves.
Catholics range from fundamentalist jerks like this woman to those like the Jesuits who are quite sophisticated philosophers and fully aware of the difficulties which arise aligning faith with reality. Unlike Protestants who are prone to start a new denomination when they have a disagreement, all Catholics tend to continue considering themselves Catholic but they build up cliques which can barely tolerate each other under the common umbrella of the main organization. I attended a Catholic high school even though my parents were Southern Baptist; this is not unusual in New Orleans where the Catholic schools have an excellent reputation for their secular education. They had a standard procedure for non-Catholics to opt-out of rituals like the Mass when those arose, although we did have to learn the major points of Catholic doctrine (which has turned out to be useful) and we also got a whole year of comparative religion hitting the main points of other world religions. I have to give it to the CSC that they weren't afraid to hold their own beliefs up for comparison with their competitors.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
The Tea Party faction in control of the Gilbert AZ school board lost its bid for re-election.
There has been some huffing and puffing on both sides about what it might do before the new board takes control in January.
The AP Biology text is more symbol than substance.
The state of Arizona doesn't require sex education, which means that a general biology textbook is as close as a Tea Party controlled board will let students get to a serious discussion of sexual reproduction in humans, standards of sexual behavior, homosexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, abortion and so on.
Arizona law requires that districts that do offer sex ed must teach a preference for childbirth and adoption over abortion and inform students about date-rape drugs, dating violence, AIDS and other dangers.
State law requires textbooks that mention abortion to state that childbirth and adoption are preferable alternatives.
Sex ed controversies in Gilbert, Tempe an anomaly
[In Tempe, debate over a proposed two-week course in sex education] derailed when board Vice President Moses Sanchez challenged a section of the curriculum that explains birth-control devices. Sanchez asked whether an intrauterine device, or IUD, should be called an abortion method instead of a birth-control device because it works by preventing implantation of fertilized eggs.
Arizona law and board policy say a sex-ed curriculum must:
Emphasize the power of the individual to control one's own behavior.
Instruct students on how to say no to unwanted advances and peer pressure.
Teach students about the prevention of dating abuse.Stress that sexually-transmitted diseases have severe consequences.
Discuss the consequences of pregnancy.
Promote respect.
Stress abstinence until the students are mature adults.
Promote childbirth and adoption over abortion.
Instructional materials may not:
Promote a homosexual lifestyle.
Portray homosexuality as a positive alternative lifestyle.Include tests with questions about students' or their parents' beliefs regarding sex, family life, morals, values or religion.
Tempe Union High district still debating sex-ed program
Just make Julie Smith accountable and take responsibility for all teenage pregnancies that occur.
Shows what YOU know
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Perhaps we need an "old dudes who frequent slashdot" club or icon or something.
My suggestion for the sigil is a field of grass, deux shotguns croisés, beneath a hoveround-rampant.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Troll? Au contraire. There is zero contemporaneous evidence for the existence of Jesus. Everything, and I mean everything, is some kind of report from people who never met Jesus, either by timing of birth against the story (Tacitus, Suetonius, Josephus, etc.) or as a consequence of first being introduced within the context of a story in a cobbled-together book, no part of which can we trace back any further than about 200 years after the story it tells about him ends.
On top of that, the cult that claims he existed has destroyed any customary grant of credibility they might have gained by reporting other historical events accurately, by inserting reports of walking on water, turning water into (copious amounts of) wine, magical healing (we *still* can't heal leprosy), raising the dead, and so on.
I am definitely outside the bounds of politically correct speech. Especially in the overwhelmingly superstitious USA. But I am in no way trolling. I'm just reporting the facts. If the facts upset you, perhaps you should do some additional thinking.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Other such dangers: physics, math, chemistry, geography, history, logic, and critical thinking.
Or is it the case that only stupid people decide to live in a desert?
I've lived in Gilbert, AZ, and in some ways, it is a mini bible belt in its own little domain. There are Jehova's Witnesses, Mormons, Catholics, and Protestants all locked in a political contest with one another. Gilbert is a really nice part of the east valley with safe neighborhoods and streets and friendly people. Its a shame religion is so embedded in politics. If you want to teach your kids creationism, the bible, and/or religion specific teachings, that's what Sunday school is for. Please don't dictate to me and my family your way of system of beliefs and force it onto me. I make the choice to be atheist but I don't come right out and criticize the faithful, rather it's the faithful that lambast me.
Ay Caramba! In case they missed the memo. The benevolent, loving, all knowing, omnipotent creator and ruler of the universe is apparently fine with the fact that 1 in 4 pregnancies naturally result in a miscarriage or what is also known in medical parlance as a spontaneous abortion. Which , BTW, if we we're going to be grading the creator on her performance, would be 75% or a barely passing C. Not a very impressive performance for a supposed omnipotent being if you ask me! Maybe these Catholics should find a more competent god to worship or just give up on science and modern medicine altogether and go back to the dark ages where they were much happier in their ignorance of reality.
Oh, and for the record I was raised a Catholic and most Catholic women that I knew did indeed contracept, just sayin.
Before the website gets a DMCA.