14 DAY TRIAL // A Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills review team is currently proposing that references to Neil Armstrong be removed from 5th-grade science books, for reasons known only to it. The main argument that it brings to the table is that the famous astronaut, who is also the first man to have walked on the Moon, is not a scientist, which is completely false, of course. This is not the first time the conservative boards of education in the state propose something so preposterous. They also militate for the removal of evolution as a theory from biology textbooks, as any good, religious fundamentalist would, LiveScience reports.
Naturally, not all educators in the American state support the decision. In fact, only a handful of religious individuals and other extremist advocates propose such changes, which are backed by no evidence whatsoever. For instance, the Essential Knowledge and Skills review team currently looking at its “options” is made entirely of educators and parents. This should not exist at all, because parents, especially in highly religious states, can thoroughly devastate their children's chances of receiving a fair education. The parents also fear their children are being taught the truth, and so go to great lengths to ensure that “heresies” are not being showcased in the classroom.
“A Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills review team composed of parents and teachers has suggested removing Neil Armstrong from a 'science strand' in a 5th grade social studies book,” Eric Berger writes, blogging for the Houston Chronicle. Making such assessments about Armstrong is as false as it gets. The astronaut received an aeronautical engineering degree from the Purdue University, as well as a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), Berger also notes in his post.
“I find your reported decision to omit Mr. Armstrong's name from the 'science strand' in Texas's fifth grade textbooks totally ridiculous and unjustified. I wonder how many of your board members actually know anything about Armstrong's career other than he was first man on the Moon? As for him not being a 'scientist,' I dare say your Board members need a better understanding of what engineers do and how they do it, and how Armstrong was much more than a pilot; he was an engineering research pilot and astronaut whose every flight connected in important ways to the science of flying,” the author of “First Man,” Armstrong biographer James Hansen, says in a letter to the review board.
“I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector nerdy engineer. Science is about what is; engineering is about what can be,” Armstrong himself said nine years ago. While on the Moon, the astronaut helped conduct a number of scientific experiments, and also helped retrieve rock samples, to be studied back on Earth. The flights he made were all linked to advancements in the science of flying, so we wish the Texas review team a lot of luck in proving that Armstrong was not a scientist.