Sometimes, when discussing the much misunderstood Scopes Trial, I have referred to the textbook from which Scopes was teaching, Hunter’s Civic Biology, which seems to have been an amalgam of civics and biology, with a dose of eugenics thrown in, and smug assertions about “highest” or “lowest”. Bad idea. Enough already with total subject confusion, ecological misunderstanding, and useless social conflict. Here’s an interesting site where Ron Ladouceur gives us a tour of exotic textbooks of our storied past.
I am glad my own biology teachers focused on the cell theory of life, the germ theory of disease, and the life and times of the endangered ribbon snake (= ecology).
There is only so much students will take away when they graduate (if they do) , and you want it to be something they can make sense of in dealing with their own life and environment.