Sure it is media, how else could I have known this. I Personally do not have first hand knowledge directly going into the white house.

But the fact is that what I wrote is a fact. with bible belt I meant both government as well as the parents. The fact is that the governement made money avialable to promote abstinence only policy and virtually killed the full sexual education. This probably is a direct result of Bush apealing to the religious right. This alltogether lead to this situation. Texas already has the highest number of unmarried teenage pregnancies, which is about ten times as high as in the netherlands where teenagers do get proper sexual education. With this new policy I expect the number of teenage pregnancies and (illegal) abortions to reach top record heights again.

I fullheartly agree with the uneducated having a vote in these matters. It should be government regulated, and not by a few local groups who appearantly control the market of text books.

Walter,

>No, now it appears to me that you are just reciting the media. That is all only opinion, not fact Walter. No doubt religious groups pressure school districts on what to cover and what not to cover but they do not have the power to make the decision. That decision is made by the school board who are elected officials. Parents have more control over the school board than any religious group does. The school board is a reflection of the overall opinion of those parents that get involved. It does not reflect the opinion of the parents that do not get involved however. Yet those parents will also complain. Each school board typically looks at the curriculum of other districts too. They look at the test scores as well. They look at the median income levels and the rate of teenage pregnancies and violence in schools. The biggest pressure right now is raising the test scores. Teacher bonuses are based on test scores (a bad idea in my opinion because now the majority of the focus is
> on passing tests). They may make recommendations based on the results but they do not 'copy' or follow other states unless the results warrant it. I find myself getting the most frustrated with the school board when they implement guidelines based on the overall opinion of an uneducated public - not because they were following suit. The biggest problem comes when the older genration is not educated and is making recommendations based on a limited education and limited knowledge.
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>>Tracy,
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>>>Please tell me how the whitehouse singlehandedly stopped gay marriage and how the whitehouse is controlling what is taught or not taught in our schools Walter.
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>>The religious groups did, because of they have a lot of power in the whitehouse. In order for Bush to stay inthe whitehouse he had to apeal to the religious right (bible belt).
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>>Those religous groups had a direct influence on the stance of gaymarriage.Also in Texas, the conservatives have influenced the selection of schoolbooks that are beeing used for sexual education. In the past the schoolbooks handled a wide spectrum of sexual topics, (e.g. anti-conception, sexual deceases). Because of preasure of the bible belt, it now only handles abstinence. How you can avoid sexual deceases and pregnancies is not handled anymore. Now really are you going back in time? Now also, Texas is an important market place for schoolbooks. Decisions made in texas will likely be followed by a lot of other states as well.
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>>Walter,