As reported by Frontline’s Katie Worth last week, Heartland has started sending thousands of teachers across the country copies of a DVD and its book “Why scientists disagree about global warming.” (Free pdf download here, or inside it says you can pay between $8.95 and $14.95 per copy, depending on how many you order...)
Now, given that science teachers tend to not be complete idiots, this isn’t going to be taken at face value by teachers (as evidenced by Washington Post Angela Fritz’s poll of her social media followers). One environmental science teacher from South Carolina put it perfectly: “The Heartland Institute is about as good at putting teacher materials together as they are at interpreting science. Not seeing many educators being convinced by any of that hot mess.”
There’s also the fact that the mailing’s foreword made it obvious the package was more political than scientific. It features the rightwing talking point that Obama’s warning that climate change is the greatest threat to mankind is “laughable” when “ISIS is beheading innocent people.” Sixth-grade teacher Laurie Baker said, “that as a foreword to something claiming to be scientific is pretty shocking.”
So we’re inclined to agree with Greg Laden’s suggestion that “this was a huge waste of money and effort.” Because at the bulk price of $8.95, some sucker gave Heartland a pretty penny to distribute 200,000 copies to teachers across the country. Just think about what that could have paid for instead- a lot of school supplies for underfunded teachers.
But for cash-strapped Heartland, that misguided funder’s generosity is not enough. Included with the book was a pamphlet begging for donations, because everyone knows a good textbook comes with a solicitation for donations to an obviously political, free market lobby group.
By including obviously political language in the foreword of the book, by relying on industry-funded shills as experts, and coming from a group with a less-than-stellar online presence (even Wikipedia immediately discloses their history as tobacco shills), even if the book were legit, the missteps by Heartland decrease the already-slim odds that they’ll trick any teachers into thinking the mailing is credible.
Nevertheless, perhaps some good will come of this obvious waste of money. We could easily see teachers using it as a way to teach critical thinking. Students could use this book as an example of how science isn’t done, highlighting the logical fallacies, picking apart the obvious bias of the authors and publisher, and otherwise using it as a jumping-off point to learn about fake news.
But really, if you’re going to fund something for teachers, don’t send them agenda-driven propaganda they’ll just throw away. Instead, be like fake news icon Stephen Colbert and give teachers funding for things they actually need, perhaps through something like Donors Choose or Adopt a Classroom.
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