Energy industry shapes lessons in public schools

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This is hardly LBN, as this topic was covered here, in at least one thread, back in May. It made the front page of the Washington Post a few days back though.

Scholastic pushing coal industry talking points in schools.

Energy industry shapes lessons in public schools

By Kevin Sieff, Published: June 2

In the mountains of southwestern Virginia, Gequetta Bright Laney taught public high school students this spring about a subject of keen interest to the region’s biggest employer: the economics of coal mining.

“Where there’s coal, there’s opportunity,” Bright Laney told her class at Coeburn High School in Wise County.
....

Her lessons, like others in dozens of public schools across the country, were approved and funded by the coal industry. Such efforts reflect a broader pattern of private-sector attempts to influence what gets taught in public schools.

These outreach efforts have drawn scrutiny after news in May that Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, distributed fourth-grade curriculum materials funded by the American Coal Foundation. The “United States of Energy” lesson plan, which the foundation paid $300,000 to develop, went to 66,000 fourth-grade teachers in 2009. After critics raised questions about potential bias, Scholastic announced that it will no longer publish the material in question.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Thanks for posting this -- it was in our paper today and I couldn't find the link.

Something about coal companies seems to bring out the evil.