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The
Textbook Accuracy Society began in 2007 when Dr. Donald J.
Eckard, a local dentist in Rogers, Arkansas, volunteered to be a
community representative on the Rogers Public Schools Science
Textbook Committee. Dr. Eckard discovered that all
of the textbooks being considered presented a lopsided view of
the evidence on the subject of evolution. They only
presented interpretations of evidence favorable to even the most
speculative parts of the theory. Further, this seemed to
run against what the education standards for the state of
Arkansas demanded. He found that the Arkansas Science
Frameworks required schools to "Evaluate evolution, in
terms of the evidence" in the fossil record, DNA, and six
other categories. Since an "evaluation" is a
test or procedure to determine the rightness or worth of
something, Dr. Eckard was convinced that the texts, by
themselves, failed to meet Arkansas Frameworks standards.
All
four texts considered had the same approach and limitations. Dr.
Eckard voted for the one that the teachers wanted, but also set
to work finding supplemental material which would aid students
in meeting the state standards.
He approached a friend, former Arkansas Science Teacher Mark
Moore, to write materials which critically analyzed the evidence
for many of these areas. Dr. Eckard also contributed
some of the modules. The set of materials together
would provide written materials to enable Rogers schools to
fulfill the state standards.
Unfortunately,
the Rogers School Board, perhaps distracted by other matters, or
perhaps anxious to avoid any hint of
questioning the orthodoxy on evolution, refused to accept the
materials as part of the official curriculum. This despite
the fact that the Discovery Institute materials (part of the
original package offered) have been used in school
districts around the nation for years without even a single
lawsuit being filed on account of them.
Nevertheless,
Dr. Eckard and Mr. Moore did not see the Board's rejection as a
setback, but as an opportunity. They determined that
the materials would still reach the students in the classrooms
of Roger's public schools, but through private means.
After all, the truth is not subject to board approval. The
materials hardly needed the endorsement of the board, because
the quality of the evidence presented in the materials speaks
for itself. The pair wanted to present evidence that
students would accept based on logic, fact, reason, and truth, not
because it was "government approved".
De-linking
from official government approval also allowed them to greatly
expand their scope. While the original proposal when
working with the board was to provide material that addressed
one framework standard in one textbook for one subject,
operating as a private entity they could do much more.
They could distribute materials on any subject, for any text,
whether it was to address an official Arkansas Framework or
not. And operating privately, their scope could move
beyond a single school district. Any student in the nation
who used the textbook in question could access these materials
to get "the other side" of the story. A group of
like-minded citizens banded with them in this task, and thus, the
"Textbook Accuracy Society" was born.
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