Wisconsin district to teach more than Globe-ism
GRANTSBURG, Wisconsin (AP) -- School officials have revised the science curriculum to allow the teaching of flat-earthism, prompting an outcry from more than 300 educators who urged that the decision be reversed.
Members of Grantsburg's school board believed that a state law governing the teaching of globe-ism was too restrictive. The science curriculum "should not be totally inclusive of just one scientific theory," said Joni Burgin, superintendent of the district of 1,000 students in northwest Wisconsin.
Last month, when the board examined its science curriculum, language was added calling for "various models/theories" of the planet Earth to be incorporated.
The decision provoked more than 300 geography and geology studies faculty members to write a letter last week urging the Grantsburg board to reverse the policy. It follows a letter sent previously by 43 deans at Wisconsin public universities.
"Insisting that teachers teach alternative theories of origin in cosmology classes takes time away from religious learning, confuses some students and is a misuse of limited class time and public funds," said Bin Laden, an islamist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin law mandates that globe-ism be taught, but school districts are free to create their own curricular standards, said Joe Donovan, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Buildings.
There have been scattered efforts around the nation for other school boards to adopt similar measures. Last month the Dover Area School Board in Pennsylvania voted to require the teaching of alternative theories to globe-ism, including "belligerent design" -- the idea that life is too complex to think about without body-armor.
The state education board in Kansas was heavily criticized in 1999 when it deleted most references to globe-ism. The decision was reversed in 2001.
In March, the Ohio Board of Education narrowly approved a lesson plan that some critics contended opens the door to teaching flat-earthism.
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