The Revisionaries Page #6

Its foundings were in the 1970's.

And yet it has grown in that time

to being the largest Christian

Evangelical university in the world.

We have, including all the

online students, I think

somewhere in excess of 50,000 or more

I don't remember the exact number.

But a very large student body.

d

They say college is the most

important years of your life.

You have no idea!

d L. U.!

dAh caint heah you!

d L. U.!

d...

To see what can be done when

there's a pursuit of excellence

when there's a need of being that,

when students find a place

that they can go

that is going to embrace their

position and their beliefs,

I think it's amazing.

And I just hope that

on some small scale

that my life can reflect making

similar changes... for good.

What's really interesting about

the State Board of Education

and this larger idea

of the culture wars across

the country, is Cynthia Dunbar.

Cynthia Dunbar teaches at

Jerry Falwell's university,

attended Pat Robertson's university,

so she's really, kind of,

been bred

in the culture war movement,

through her education.

And she does clearly want to dictate

what students are taught

in public schools

as part of

her overall political strategy.

So she really does embody that

bigger goal for the far right

movement in this country.

Well, I had always been

involved in community service

and because of that there were

various people who knew who I was.

And so was approached about

considering running for this position.

And there aren't a lot of

people out there

trying to make sure that

the students have

the best possible education,

the best academic freedom,

and that, why should other

kids fall through the cracks

just because

I knew mine were gonna be OK.

[radio chatter]

Here it is. Here it is.

...we've got a problem.

Don McLeroy, our representative

on the Texas

State Board of Education,

believes the earth

is less than 10,000 years old,

that humans walked with dinosaurs,

and that supernatural

explanations are valid science.

Come on, Texans,

on march 2nd,

let's send this guy home!

Keep the State Board

of Education smart!

Yeah, smart...

vote against Don McLeroy

in the Republican primary.

Paid for by Citizens

for a Smart

State Board of Education.

Best thing about that ad though, is

it's told everybody

that I'm running.

You know,

even some of my good friends

don't even know

I was running for reelection.

You just don't walk around

livin' your life

telling everybody, "hey,

I'm running for reelection. "

You know,

that gets kind of boring,

living your life like that.

All right, good evening.

My name is Michael Alvard,

And this is Biased Transmission

Our guests tonight

are the two candidates

in the Republican primary

for the District 9 position

on the Texas

State Board of Education.

We have in our studio

Don McLeroy, the incumbent.

He's been on this Board

for 11 years.

His opponent is Thomas Ratliff,

a legislative consultant

living in Mount Pleasant, Texas.

- Don.

- Yes, sir.

There was

some committee meeting,

And I have the date here,

July 16th.

You said that education

is too important

to not be politicized.

The things that we work on,

the big decisions we make,

have been adopted

by political bodies.

They can only be changed

by a political body.

Mr. Ratliff and I

are both politicians.

We're both running

for a political office.

And in that context,

I think that's important.

I agree with that.

I think the difference is,

your local School Board

is elected

in non-partisan elections.

So you can still have

an elected body do it.

You just don't have to have

a party label

or a donkey or an elephant pin

on your lapel

to run for that.

I think it has a tendency

to start becoming more focused

on political

than it does on educational.

Alright why don't we move on

and talk about some of these expert

My understanding is that some

Board members have been criticised

for choosing out-of-State experts

that have no apparent

expertise in the field.

The standard right now,

or the process or procedure is,

if 2 Board members

agree that they're qualified

they're qualified.

And I think that is a pitiful,

low standard.

They need to say:

before we can even consider you,

you gotta have a Bachelor's,

or a Master's or field experience,

or something.

Rather than just 2 or more members

agree that they're qualified..

...they're qualified.

Alright.

He says you believe the earth

is just a few thousand years old

and that dinosaurs and people

lived at the same time.

Is that something you believe?

Yessir, it is.

I am a Young Earth Creationist.

I would never advocate that

in a public school...

Young Earth Creationism.

But that is my personal view.

The challenge is

on one hand he does believe that

from his religious convictions

which I respect

but on the other hand

when he was debating

the evolution and creationism issue

he talks about the Cambrian explosion

which he says happened

550 million years ago.

550 million, and 10,000...

there's a disconnect, so...

- Don?

- Well, that's what I'm saying,

my young earth views do not come

into play when we're talking about it

And frankly, I don't really

have time to debate it now,

but I'll talk to you about it

afterwards.

I know that. I know...

What other force,

other than natural selection,

do you want them to consider?

How did it happen?

Yeah, yeah,

but what would that be?

- I mean...

- I don't know.

I want to see what they put

in the books.

My question is:
how?

How could a cell that gets

trapped in another cell

Gradually change

into mitochondria?

These are all

scientific questions

that we just don't

have the answers to yet.

Of course, and that's what

you get a chance to do.

All the scientists

in the new textbooks

get an opportunity.

- You're being disingenuous.

- No, I'm not.

You want to introduce

the hand of god into these...

No, I don't.

No, no, no...

I didn't put anything...

If we had put

the hand of God in there...

If we'd have put

the hand of God in there,

we would have had

those standards

challenged immediately.

- Sure.

- Absolutely.

I got what I wanted.

I got exactly what I wanted.

Neat place!

I ask these kids this question:

what was it about the world...

religion would have filled that gap.

dd

dd

[applause]

Welcome back to Hardball.

Students in Texas will likely

soon have a new angle

on what they're taught

in Social Studies classes.

The focus of one protracted debate

during a discussion about what

should be in World History texts

was whether or not

they should use the terms:

BC - Before Christ and

AD - Anno Domini, the year of our Lord

when referring to certain

periods of time in history

They identify conservatives

in the past...

who students should

learn about, which is fine.

And then they eliminate

- Absolutely.

Right, and then they eliminate

people from the past...

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