From:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wi...-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


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."