Burnt Orange Report

Statesman Bashes SBOE

By Byron LaMasters

For what it's worth:

Texas high school students will learn that getting plenty of rest will help protect them from contracting sexually transmitted diseases. But their new health textbooks — with one exception — won't give them information about condoms that really do protect them from HIV-AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. [...]

The textbooks are written as if Texas' teens aren't having sex. The state's high teenage pregnancy rate should dispel that myth. Teenagers are having sex, and their books should tell them how to protect themselves from dangerous diseases, such as AIDS, as well as from pregnancies.

But this isn't really about the well-being of Texas high school students. It's about values espoused by a majority on the education board. And it's about their determination to impose those values on all Texas students and their families. [...]

Allowing values to trump facts undermines education. In the case of health textbooks, the damage can prove fatal if students believe they can take a nap to prevent AIDS.

It's really quite simple. The Texas State Board of Education's decisions are nothing more than pro-abortion, pro-unwanted pregnancy, pro-STD and pro-HIV/AIDS policies. I guess that's what their morals dictate, and that's a travesty for our state.

Check out my post from yesterday for more background.

Update: Amblongus has some thoughts on the matter as well.