Fundamentalists’ Witness Tells of Textbooks’ Harm

An education professor testifying on behalf of fundamentalist parents said Thursday that studying objectionable material in a textbook could stunt a child’s reading development.

“If a child reads something in school that’s quite offensive from what they are taught at home, they find that difficult to comprehend,” said Patrick Groff, a professor at San Diego State University.

Groff said the same tendency can be found in adult readers. He said researchers have found that adults comprehend more of a newspaper editorial if they agree with the writer’s viewpoint.

Groff testified on behalf of 14 Church Hill parents who are demanding that fundamentalist students be allowed to use alternative textbooks in the Hawkins County schools. School officials say the move would be disruptive and costly.

The parents charge the Holt Basic Readers used in Tennessee and other states promote such “anti-Christian” themes as secular humanism, one-world government, pacifism, situation ethics, and the theory of evolution.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hull is hearing the case without a jury.

One of the parents called the Holt readers “heathen” Wednesday and said he feared his children would face “eternal damnation” if they used the textbooks in school.

Robert Mozert Jr., whose son was expelled from the seventh grade for refusing to read the Holt Basic Readers, took a Bible to the witness stand and read a passage from Genesis.

When asked what the passage meant to him, Mozert replied: “That evolution is myth, that creationism is fact.”