Bill to remove 'partisan issues' from classrooms ill conceived

A Texas state legislator recently encouraged his colleagues to review documentation claiming not only that Earth was created 6,000 years ago but that it is fixed in position and that all other heavenly bodies revolve around it.

Here in Arizona, state Sen. Thayer Verschoor has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for any public school teacher to endorse or oppose any social, political or cultural issues of a partisan nature. Were Verschoor's bill to pass, astronomy would disappear from Arizona classrooms, because clearly the belief that the sun is the center of the universe is a matter of partisan dispute.

Verschoor's legislation accomplishes the rather difficult task of being so amazingly poorly thought out that partisans of the left and the right have equally strong reasons for finding it objectionable.

"America is a democracy," claims the teacher.

"It is illegal for you to say that," responds the student who has read even a modicum of such contemporary political theorists as Alain Badiou and Slavoj Zizek.

"Today we will discuss isotopes," says the chemistry teacher.

"You'd better call your lawyer, because the idea that isotopes decay at different rates provides evidence that the earth is more than 6,000 years old, and that's a partisan social issue," comes the voice from the back of the classroom.

Supporters of the legislation must be working from the view that there are many non-controversial ideas that can be taught in school and that it is only the controversial statements ("Republican presidents are better for the country than Democratic ones") which they wish to censor. This is problematic, however, because it ignores the facts that ideologies constantly mutate and that there is never unanimity about what constitutes a non-controversial statement.

Consider global warming. The vast majority of scientists today believe global warming to be both real and caused by man.

Does the existence of a handful of naysayers therefore render "warming exists and is man-made" an illegal statement under the Verschoor bill? How few skeptics must there be for an issue to become completely non-controversial and therefore teachable without taking a position that can be interpreted to be partisan?

As a longtime coach of debate, I can comfortably say that a very good teaching tool is to challenge the students on some belief that they have thought to be obviously true. The resulting interaction doesn't necessarily change students' minds (that's not the goal) but forces them to think more deeply about what it is that they do believe.

Any legislation that takes away opportunity for critical thought in the classroom does a disservice both to the students and to the larger community of which they form a vital part.

Matt Guthrie is a Phoenix resident and the debate coach at Phoenix Country Day School in Paradise Valley. He can be reached at Mguthrie5@cox.net.

*QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Do you think that subjects that are in dispute should be left out of high school curriculum?

What are some topics that you feel should be left out of curriculum?

Do you think that controversial material has a place in education?

Discuss some things that you feel are not appropriate for high school classes.