On Aug 22, 2005, at 8:11 PM, Gautam Mukunda wrote:
A couple of the other posters suggested an answer, though. It is a truism said so often that people forget its meaning that American politics are far less elite-driven than those of other democracies (see, for example, the death penalty debate in the US versus Europe). In this case some of the other posters have written things wihch suggest that where there are significant evangelical and/or fundamentalist religious populations in other industrialized states they too object - it's just that in the US they are able to influence the political process, while in Europe (for example) they are marginalized. This makes sense.
Yeah, that could be part of it all right. You asked a hell of a good question, and when you look at the places where the "teach the controversy" movement has really gained a foothold you see a *tendency* toward more fundamentalist Biblical thinking. Kansas and Texas, after all, aren't rife with nexi of liberal thought.
The ID-iots did a very clever thing, too. By forcing their case in *Texas*, they effectively guaranteed that the entire nation will be embroiled, because textbook publishers aren't going to produce special editions just for Texas, which is (IIRC) the single largest buyer of schoolbooks in the US. This means the "only a theory" disclaimer, if it's added to textbooks for Texas, will surface in editions used throughout the US.
There really is a lot of ability for people in the US to have tremendous influence over areas in which they have absolutely no expertise -- including being able to dictate what kinds of subjects can be covered in primary education. If there were an alternate story for algebra -- something steeped in myth -- I wouldn't be surprised to find that it, too, would have to be included in math courses.
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
