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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--vegetarian-maptes03\

27mar27,0,1422351.story?coll=ny-region-apconnecticut

 

Missouri senator says MAP test prep pushes

vegetarianism

 

 

March 27, 2006, 4:44 PM EST

 

 

HANNIBAL, Mo. (AP) _ Two state senators want to ban

standardized test preparation materials from a

Connecticut company because they say they contain

" anti-meat, anti-farmer messages. "

 

Several school districts buy supplies from Queue Inc.

of Shelton, Conn., to help their students prepare for

the required statewide Missouri Assessment Program

test. But Republican Sens. John Cauthorn and Bill

Stouffer, who are both members of a trade group for

cattle ranchers, say two of the reading comprehension

exercises don't belong in the classroom.

 

One example has students read a passage entitled

" Why Be Vegetarian " and then write a letter to their

parents about being a vegetarian using facts contained

in the reading including:

 

_ Eating meat leads to large amounts of saturated fat

consumption and heart disease.

 

_ Grains should be eaten by people.

 

_ Meat is more expensive.

 

The second example requires students to interpret a

poem that includes the passage: " your brain could rot

from eating beef, from Mad Cow disease there is no

relief. "

 

Cauthorn told the Hannibal Courier-Post that school

districts should be prohibited from using the

materials.

 

" This material isn't education, it's propaganda, " he

said. " All Missouri schools using this company's

garbage should remove it from their classrooms

immediately and no longer do business with this

company. "

 

Cauthorn, R-Mexico, and Stouffer, R-Napton, have urged

the state Department of Elementary and Secondary

Education to issue a " cease and desist " order to the

state's school districts to prevent further use of

Queue's materials.

 

Bert Schulte, the deputy education commissioner, said

Monday that individual school districts have the

authority to decide what test preparation materials

are used. The department does not track how many

districts use the materials.

 

" It's marketed by an independent company that makes

test preparatory materials available to school

districts, " he said. " That activity is done solely at

the discretion of the local school districts. "

 

Queue began in 1981 as an educational software

provider but has shifted into a major provider of prep

workbooks for state-mandated tests.

 

Jonathan Kantrowitz, the company's chief executive

officer, said he didn't have direct knowledge of the

passages in question but wouldn't be surprised if they

were included.

 

" We didn't realize that it was a controversial

subject, " he said.

 

Cauthorn and Stouffer plan to work to change state law

to bar its products from Missouri classrooms.

 

" Their materials are an insult to the hardworking

cattlemen in our state, " Cauthorn said. " If their

organization wants to eat leaves and oats, fine. But

don't try to take down honest people making an honest

living. "

 

 

 

___

 

Information from: Hannibal Courier-Post, http://www.hannibal.net

 

 

 

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