More than 200 people showed up at the Public Education Department on Monday to voice opposition to t
WASHINGTON D.C. - On the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper on Tuesday, October 17,2017 there was an article about a protest. More than 200 people showed up to the protest. Of all those people 70 spoke against the standards and many urged the state to instead adopt the Next Generation Science Standards during nearly daylong public hearing aimed at the gathering in out about the plan. Time passed and not even my mid afternoon, not one person spoke in favor of adoptions the standards
The Next Generation Science Standards, developed by scientist and educators from both the National Science Teachers Association, have been adopted by nearly 20 states and are seen as a comprehensive and interactive was to teach science in all grades. Some experts that have compared the two say that New Mexico's standards use around 75 to 95% of the Next Generation Science Standards, the new plan nonetheless eliminates or waters down such important scientific concepts as evolution, the age of the earth, the human impact on climate change and global warming.
Some attendees told the five members of the hearing panel, led by Kimberly Ulibarri, the department’s legislative program manager, that the standards will diminish critical thinking skills and make the state’s children less competitive when seeking STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers.
A number of statewide science groups, including the Environmental Education Association of New Mexico and the New Mexico Science Teachers Association, have urged the department to choose Next Generation Science Standards because they align with what many other states are doing and will make students more competitive in the job market.
During Monday’s hearing, Eileen Everett, executive director of the Environmental Education Association, reiterated that request, but also said, “Most of what has been proposed in the New Mexico Stem-Ready Standards is a big, important step forward for our schools.”Even critics of the new proposal say that it is past time for the state to update its current standards, adopted in 2003 and modified in 2009, to meet the ever-changing needs of today’s technological world.
At around 10:15 a.m. everything was interrupted because the fire alarm went off. They started saying that someone pulled it on purposes to end the meeting. After a police officer as well a security officer said that some one did pull the alarm. After some officers decided to end the meeting at around noon.
