BJU Math Text Offends Democrats
Here’s something interesting: Some guy named “broomfield_jay” at democrats.com has his shorts in a wad over the fact that BJU Press puts Christian doctrine in its textbooks. Specifically, this article refers to a pre-calculus text, describing it as “sick” and as a “KKK handbook.”
Here’s one of the examples he cites:
“Carl Friedrich Gauss first proved the fundamental theorem of algebra. There are many fundamental theorems: of arithmetic, calculus, and so on. These are so ‘fundamental’ that many other theorems are derived from them. In the Bible, there are also fundamentals, without which Christianity would not exist—the deity of Christ, His substitutionary atonement, and the inspiration of the Bible, to name a few.”
And here’s his take on the book as a whole:
An objective review of this “text” would warn that it not only wastes students time, but will also leave them behind studenst [SIC] using more competent texts. Modern texts are concise and have real-world math applications involving economics, biology, and physics. Leave the Bible to the department that teaches sociology or better yet, mythology.
Will a text that drops Christian doctrine in at every opportunity leave its students behind the students of secular textbooks? I somehow doubt it.
Of course, my Christian high school used the secular Saxon math curriculum, if that’s any indicator of text quality.
In any case, broomfield_jay is over-reacting. As long as the book teaches the fundamentals of pre-calculus to its students, there’s no problem with it dropping in Christian doctrine, especially when you consider that the book is written specifically for Christian schools. And unless the story problems involve getting the dimensions of a burning cross, the KKK comment was out of line.
February 21st, 2005 at 2:30 pm
It’s not true. We’ve done research ourselves, and had a third party check our results. BJU math curriculum gives students the same or better education than other textbooks. Check out www.hightestscores.com to learn more. Anyway, Christian schools tend to get better test scores than secular schools anyway due to other factors (such as class size and the loving care of the teacher). I don’t think test scores should be what we judge on, but as far as ‘getting left behind’ it shows that the students know as much or more as those using other textbooks.
Sorry for the short rant. I work at BJU Press.
February 21st, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Ah, well then. I thought that BJU Press might have been better, but I didn’t want to say without evidence. Glad to hear it.
Although, to be fair to the author of the piece I linked, the study was A) conducted by BJU Press and B) appears to only cover Christian schools using Christian publishers. Going only by that study, BJU’s curriculum might be a big fish in a little pond, unless I’m misunderstanding the information I have.
It’d be nice if some other organization–perhaps the American Association of Christian Schools–would do an independent study that would also include secular textbooks.
February 21st, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Agreed. I would be interested in the results of a more definitively objective study (i.e. not conducted by BJU Press) that includes secular texts.
February 22nd, 2005 at 9:55 am
It’s mostly the same information (with the exception of science and history text books, which would probably deviate from what the state requires to be in them) because they have to fulfill certain state requirements. The Christian textbooks may have added information, but I don’t see how that would put students behind . . .
I’m sure there have been independant studies (we don’t have resources here to conduct them ourselves) and though they were all in Christian schools it was not all Christian publishers. Christians schools have been using secular textbooks, particularly in high school, for some time now. (In fact, our last ad campaign waged war against that practice.)
July 5th, 2006 at 10:41 am
:roll:What’s the big deal? I’m a homeschool mom, and I pull resources from several different places. I am a christian, and although I don’t use BJU for everything, I have seen that it is a great curriculum. I personally love that fact that it includes christian influences in all of their materials. What exactly made anyone so shocked that Bob Jones Math FROM Bob Jones University would actually have christan comments in it!!? Hello! It is a christian school! Anyway, I say, if you like it buy it; if you don’t, use another curriculum and get over it.
July 30th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I am so glad to see this blog sight …I love Bob Jones Textbooks and I have 2 boys that started school on public school!! ahhhh big mistake I am going to bobjones this fall AS a matter of fact we have already started and the boys are really thriving they do not feel so ” assembly linish” if that is even a word I despise the public schools and there indoctrination of our kids !!! GOD BLESS BOB JONES UNIVERSITY and all they offfer Christians!
February 16th, 2008 at 4:34 am
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