Chris Comer In Her Own Words

Chris Comer, who was fired from her job as Science Director at the Texas Education Agency for not towing the Agency line on staying neutral on evolution, conducted an interview with Ira Flatow on Science Friday. You can hear that here.

Chris is someone I have worked with professionally and I have always had a tremendous amount of respect for her. It's interesting and horrifying to hear her talk about what happened to her. It's also ominous what this politicizing of science at TEA bodes for the Science TEKS rewrite next year.

First off, I'm really proud that she has come forward to tell her story and continue the work she has done to protect the integrity of science education in Texas. It's typical for her to be a warrior in this area.

But, it's mind boggling how TEA treated her.

We have real problems folks. That TEA thinks they have to stay neutral on evolution - which is the underlying theory of all of the biological sciences - raises too many questions to even sort out. I hate to even bring this up for fear that TEA will go into hyperdrive, but Advanced Placement Biology, which is taught in many Texas high schools, is largely an evolutionary biology course from start to finish.

The podcast is worth a listen. I think you will find parts of it surprising.