SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico's proposed school science standards are being revised after a public outcry against the deletion or omission of references to global warming, evolution and the age of the Earth.
Public Education Secretary Christopher Ruszkowski announced Tuesday several changes to the final version of the state standards that incorporate suggestions from the public.
The Public Education Department says final standards will restore references to the 4.6 billion-year age of the Earth, the rise in global temperatures over the past century and the process of evolution due to genetic variation. A complete version of the final standards was not released.
Public comments at a packed public hearing Monday were overwhelmingly critical of state revisions to a set of standards developed by a consortium of states and the National Academy of Sciences.
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cantonbecker on October 19th, 2017 at 15:23 UTC »
Lifelong New Mexican here. Whoohoo! Maybe in coming years we won't rank 47th in education. Or, if you like to put a positive spin on it, 3rd best at being the worst.
Edit: Seeing as this is a top comment, I should probably confess that out of state pride I was looking for a positive statistic. Other studies put NM at 49th. But those include D.C., so that's 49th out of 51. And in the "Chance for Success" category, we achieved perfection at 51st!
poundfoolishhh on October 19th, 2017 at 14:35 UTC »
When I learned so much of the country doesn't believe in evolution I was shocked. I was born in a blue state and raised Catholic - which, as a church is pretty progressive re: their relationship with science (comparatively speaking).
I had just assumed everyone pretty much understood it to be fact. But nope, 35% reject evolution entirely. Crazy.
b12ftw on October 19th, 2017 at 14:26 UTC »
This reinforces the concept of "Think Globally, Act Locally." It may be difficult to do anything at a national level about the current disturbing trend of science denial, but if we yell loudly enough locally we can make a difference.