Wording for the first disclaimer is taken verbatim from the sticker designed by the Cobb County School District in Georgia.

Wording for the first disclaimer is taken verbatim from the sticker designed by the Cobb County School District in Georgia (see original). To print the above disclaimers onto a sticker page, download the PDF version and shrink it to fit a normal page. To print a full page of a single sticker, crop the PDF version and duplicate the desired image within a word processing program. If you really want to get other parents' attention, transfer the stickers onto a t-shirt with an inkjet iron-on kit and wear it to school board meetings, especially if they are filmed -- school boards just hate national scrutiny. If you want to give somebody a t-shirt for Christmas (if you're into that holiday), but just hate to iron, talk to Jim at CafePress (and see their related stock). If your school district is considering anti-evolution stickers or other such silliness, alert your local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is always interested in reseparating church and state.

If your children don't come home saying, "Evolution is totally cool!" then they are probably receiving science instruction from a teacher who doesn't think evolution is totally cool. Even if their teacher believes (as almost half of Americans do) that humans were created by a god within the last 10,000 years, his or her job is to teach evolution enthusiastically and without even a hint of tentativeness. Talk to your kids, and encourage them to ask questions during class. You might even ask your kid to record a few lectures on the iPod you foolishly bought for them (but they might need to ask permission from their teacher, at least in some states). And at parent-teacher conferences, ask your kid's teacher to show you the lesson plans that specifically teach evolution (modules on descent with modification, natural selection, speciation, origin of life, human origins, etc.). Also, all teachers will have a copy of the state science standards on or near their desks, and you can certainly ask to look at the "Life Sciences" section to see what material might show up on state achievement tests. Lesson plans teaching evolution can be found easily on the internet:

National Biology Teachers Association
National Center for Science Education
National Science Teachers Association

If you don't have time for any of the above, but are not opposed to being horrified and entertained at the same time (for free!), go get yourself a really stiff drink and check out some of the slick web sites where anti-evolution school board members, teachers, and fellow parents get their strategies, lesson plans, and Darwin jokes:

http://www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org/
http://www.discovery.org/csc/
http://www.icr.org/
http://home.comcast.net/~vanandel1/donations.htm

This page's URL is http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/textbookdisclaimers/index.htm. Please send it to any parents you know who might be concerned that their children are receiving weak or religion-infused science instruction.

If you have questions, comments, or non-exploding hate mail, please feel free to contact me: Colin Purrington

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