The founder of Wyoming’s conservative political arm, Liberty Group, ¡ªadopted thus far by 11 states and the District of Columbia (which means those states acknowledge human climate impact)¡ªare coercive.
Largely defending statewide , Susan Gore of the (and daughter Gore-Tex founder Wilbert L. Gore) believes government should have nothing to do with public education, and pro-coal-and-oil speak continues to dominate Wyoming’s legislative rhetoric in response to the proposed standards. Opposition to the is “becoming a political litmus test” for this year’s governorship, according to , a science education professor at the University of Wyoming and member of the standards review board.
Wyoming became the taught in its classrooms two months ago, despite a unanimous vote of the state’s science educators in favor of?adopting the standards. In March, lawmakers put an anti-Next-Gen footnote in writing, prohibiting public funds allocated toward achieving the standards. They hold that the standards are based in theory¡ªnot fact¡ªand officially reject the Next Generation Science Standards for this perceived lack of validity.
“The majority of us will present evidence,” a science facilitator for Wyoming’s Goshen County school district told?the New York Times. “That’s what the scientific method is all about.”
With respect to Gore’s statement, the standards propose very little “big hand” involvement in how states reach the standards. Individual educators choose which textbooks they use (and, ultimately, how ), but the big hand in Wyoming seems to reach for fossil fuels, not education.