Texas Higher Education and Creation Research, Part 3

The New York Times has an article on the THECB's panel's recommendation to allow the Institute for Creation Research to grant Master's degrees in science education in Texas.

Asked how the institute could educate students to teach science, Dr. Paredes, who holds a doctorate in American civilization from the University of Texas and served 10 years as vice chancellor for academic development at the University of California, said, "I don't know. I'm not a scientist."

You could ask some scientists, you know, We're nice. We'd help.

The article clarifies how the Institute for Creation Research has been accredited, and it's partly through legal muscle:

In California, the only other state where Mr. Morris said the institute was offering degrees, it won recognition from the state superintendent of public instruction in 1981 but was denied license renewal in 1988. The institute sued and in 1992 won a $225,000 settlement that allowed it to continue offering degrees; it now operates under the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Dr. Morris said his program was accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, which is not recognized by Texas.

Texas Citizens for Science, however, claims that the Institute no longer has TRACS accreditation.

The Houston Chronicle also has a news article on this, as does the Austin American-Statesman, here. Patricia Nason is quoted as saying:

"The bottom line is we're teaching science and we're teaching teachers how to teach science(.)"

You're not teaching science when you require students to follow a literal biblical interpretation, which is ICR's avowed mandate.

I'm expecting now that this story has made it into a national newspaper, we're probably going to start seeing editorials around the country about this. Bringing Texas into more disrepute.

This is way, way more worrying than what happened to Chris Comer, frankly.