House Bill 1227, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on January 10, 2012, would, if enacted, require "the equal treatment of science instruction regarding evolution and intelligent design," according to the legislature's summary of the bill. The equal treatment provision would apply to both public elementary and secondary schools and to "any introductory science course taught at any public institution of higher education" in Missouri.
HB 1227's text is about 3000 words long, beginning with a declaration that the bill is to be known as the Missouri Standard Science Act, followed by a defectively alphabetized glossary providing idiosyncratic definitions of "analogous naturalistic processes," "biological evolution," "biological intelligent design," "destiny," "empirical data," "equal treatment," "hypothesis," "origin," "scientific theory," "scientific law," and "standard science."
Among the substantive provisions of the bill, applying both to public elementary and secondary schools and to introductory science courses in public institutions of higher education: "If scientific theory concerning biological origin is taught in a course of study, biological evolution and biological intelligent design shall be taught. Other scientific theory or theories of origin may be taught."
For public elementary and secondary schools, HB 1227 also provides, "If scientific theory concerning biological origin is taught in a textbook, the textbook shall give equal treatment to biological evolution and biological intelligent design." After the bill is enacted, new textbooks purchased for the public schools will have to conform to the equal treatment requirement. A committee will develop supplementary material on "intelligent design" for optional interim use.
In case you are not aware of what the teaching of science looks like when taught by an "Intelligent Design" believing teacher, take a look at this video of a so-called "science teacher" in Dayton, Ohio.
The idea that this individual, Joe Wilke, is afraid to teach ANYTHING which might insult his student's preconceived notions of the world is insane! That is WHY they come to public school for their education!
Public school is important because a student's parents and pastors are usually not trained, and may not even have any desire, to teach them about science, or history, or anything which might make children question what they believe they knew about the world.
The fact that this person claiming to be a teacher does not want to educate his students for fear of upsetting them, proves that he has NO business in a public school classroom. If he wants to teach, without revealing the ignorance of his student's parents then he should transfer to a Christian school where he can teach fables and allegories all day to his heart's content.
I know that sometimes I get angry responses from some of you when I challenge religion, or religion's impact on society, but I how can I avoid that if religion keeps being forced down our throats in ways like this?
It would NEVER dawn on me to enter a church, synagogue, or temple and start telling the children attending that their beliefs are wrong and demand equal time to prove my point. Why is Missouri trying to allow the reverse of that to happen in their public education system?
Essentially whenever you insert religion into science, or science into religion, you risk the integrity of both.
In other words if people will keep their peanut butter off of my chocolate, I will not feel the need to use my chocolate to demonstrate that their peanut butter is full of nuts and empty promises.
What an incredible waste of money. Once the extra interim teaching materials are prepared, they will be back to a religious organization. A suit will be filed to prevent the new curriculum as violating the 2nd Amendment.
ReplyDeleteThere is no body of scientists who do not receive primary funding from evangelicals to write the new to some chur materials. So no matter who is hired to write the material, it will be traced back to some church group.
And the best clue will be which GOP group profits. Because you know that one of their own will.
Oh dear me...this is the VERY REASON I moved last month from southern Missouri to Seattle! Fresh air comes from many directions!
ReplyDeleteIt's "education" like this that's making America a laughing stock in the world. I am ashamed of Missouri. But what can we do???
ReplyDeleteIf there was ever a reason to "play hookie"...
ReplyDeleteAs a graduate of parochial schools who sent my own children to public schools, my opinion is...if you want to teach your kids about God in school, send them to a religious school. My kids attended public schools and CCD on Saturday mornings for religious education.
ReplyDeleteI don't want my tax dollars supporting ANY religious theory in a public venue.
You want a religious education for your kids, then pay tuition to a religious school. That's what my parents did and four years of theology later, I still don't think it's appropriate to insert religious 'stories" into the public education system.
Public schools should remain religion neutral.
I love the last little precious lump and his evaluation of "how did an African American person evolve from a White Person"? This just goes to show that this poor child has no grasp of the current science regarding the genesis of humans and the scientifically proven fact that the cradle of man is Africa and we all evolved from darker skin people that dispersed across the planet and then lost our melanin when we moved to more northern areas to become lighter skinned people. Sorry to break it to ya bubba, but your ancestors a few million years ago were much darker skinned than you little ginger-headed self!
ReplyDeleteSee, this child looks no further than his own teenaged brain and the Bible to form his opinion of our genesis. He has not been taught the current scientific basics of human evolution thus he cannot properly judge between creationism and Evolution. He's stuck in his own scientifically illiterate hell at only 16 years of age! So sad.
Before you denigrate the South and its denizens remember this important fact: If it weren't for the South, we'd have no one to operate our carnival rides.
;-)
If I'm a devoutly religious person who believes strongly in the story of creation, I can place my children in a parochial school or expose them to that story in church or at home without anyone demanding that my child be taught evolution.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm a person who believes in evolution, according to these people, I have no right to have my child educated in a curriculum accepted by the vast majority of the scientific community.
Keep your religion in your own house of worship and keep science in the public school classroom where it belongs!
It would seem this 'science teacher' and his ilk are the very antithesis of intelligent design.
ReplyDeleteYet another example of the willfully blind leading the willingly blindfolded back into the darkness of ignorance.
ReplyDeleteFurther, I am not insensitive to the feelings of those Christians who see themselves unfairly criticized as though there is one monolithic Christian community. I understand that is not the case, and I understand the unfairness of referring to it as such. I used to regard the fundamentalists w/ bemusement, but after thirty+ years of seemingly daily bombardment with their arrogant self-righteousness, obvious sense of entitlement, bigotry, overt lies, and outright nonsense, bemusement has turned to contempt and I admit it is often triggered by the very word Christian w/out further qualification. To those intelligent and sensible Christians who choose a literate interpretation of the Bible rather than a hopelessly misguided literal interpretation, I apologize.
And for those of you who claim to be "Old Testament Christians," didn't you notice anyone missing??
And this is what the GOP vision of America is. Their God, their myths, their will, on every child everywhere. I can just imagine the uproar if a Democrat submitted a bill requiring, say, the Jewish perspective on WWII, the black perspective of slavery and our history before the Civil Rights Act, or the Muslim persepctive on anything at all. They would have his hide, literally. And yet, the GOP hides behind their fake 'Christian country' meme and tries to indoctrinate children, whether their parents agree or not.
ReplyDeleteI remember when my kids were small, 25 years ago, and my born-again MIL was so worried that they would receive a nasty 'humanistic secular' education. We had moved out of Ohio, but the 4 grandkids left near her all attended fundie school, and 4 even went to the same fundie college, Grove City, 99% white and no federal dollars to insist that they at least pretend there are more people in America than rich white ones. The four boys graduated, but none of them married, and they spend their weekends drinking. They have no idea how to relate to women because their high school 'prom' was a dinner with no dance, and they did no dating.
The other 4 have no college degrees between them, and although they are working, it is not at stable employment. Plus two of them had kids before they were even engaged.
So I have no patience for this anti-science crap. Teach them whatever you want at home, but do not teach them your religion in a public classroom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R54LGX5_10
ReplyDeleteGreat NOVA documentary on the Dover PA trial on intelligent design vs evolution! I think you can watch the entire show (in sections) on you tube. I borrowed the movie from the library. This should be a required movie to be seen by all citizens
I went to a parochial (Catholic) school through the eighth grade. And then my parents, over the objections of a parish priest, decided that their daughters should go to public school because we would be living in a world with people from all different kinds of backgrounds. I admire them more and more for their foresight and courage. I have no regrets about the parochial school education that I received but I also had the advantage of the balance that comes from excellent public education. All of this happened in the mid-1950s. I'm glad that I'm not in school anymore and I hope that my grandchildren will never have such drivel taught to them.
ReplyDeleteI think you probably should be a bit more specific on "why is Missouri trying to...."
ReplyDeleteOr, "Missouri introduces.."
Who are the legislators behind this bill? See below, from your linked article:
Rick Brattin (R-District 124) is the main sponsor of HB 1227; its cosponsors are John McCaherty (R-District 90), Charlie Davis (R-District 128), Andrew Koenig (R-District 88), Sue Allen (R-District 92), and Darrell Pollock (R-District 146); Davis, Koenig, and Pollock also cosponsored the antievolution HB 195 in 2011. HB 1227 is the fourth antievolution bill of 2012, joining Indiana's Senate Bill 89 and New Hampshire's House Bills 1148 and 1157.
From what I gather in reading a bit more on this, this bill will not necessarily have any legs at all.
Just more Tea Partiers up to their tea partying.
Great stuff going on in the land of the gun. Keep it up and you will find ya'all sefs back in caves trying to avoid dinosaurs who want to eat you alive. Ceptin the ridin on kind what eats leaves.
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone call it Intelligent Design if it produced Sarah Palin?
ReplyDeleteNever again a school bond will I vote for, if this stupidity spreads.
Anon@3:28
ReplyDelete"Public schools should remain religion neutral."
I completely agree, but I've read enuf of Pat Buchanan's writings to understand the unquestioning sense of entitlement that exists in the minds of the "Christian conservatives." They see "Christian" as the default condition, and regard "secular" as a synonym for atheistic and actively anti-Christian.
Posted on today's C4P open thread:
ReplyDeleteBrawny CatToday 10:49 AM
Poll:
What was your reaction to the video that appeared to show Marines urinating on the three dead Afghan enemies?
A) I agree with the obamAA+ administration - It's utterly deplorable!
B) When you gotta go, you gotta go : )
Pete Petretich and 2 more liked this Like Reply
ChrisToday 10:52 AMin reply to Brawny Cat
I like the tweet I got that said they were just doing a PSA
Remember its always better to Pi__ed off than to be Pi__ed on!
Once the Taliban stops beheading people, maybe then I will try and pretrend to care if some dead bodies got urinated on!
Bill589 and 5 more liked this
Well I see your bill and raise you another RWNJ bill introduced into the general assembly in Indiana. The idiot Legislators wants to require the Lord's Prayer to be recited every morning in public schools.
ReplyDeleteIt states:
In order that each student recognize the importance of spiritual development in establishing character and becoming a good citizen, the governing body of a school corporation or the equivalent authority of a charter school may require the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each school day. The prayer may be recited by a teacher, a student, or the class of students.
SB 251
Senator Tomes, Holdman and Kruse
Makes me sick to my stomach that this is what it's coming down to anymore. My home state is conservative enough to drive me nuts but this is over the fucking line.
http://www.masson.us/blog/?p=8160
O/T but truely worth reading....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/10/25/3-misconceptions-that-need-to-die.aspx
O/T: CALL FOR HELP!
ReplyDeletePlease go to the Steven Colbert site about his run for the presidency. I've posted a comment begging him to pick Amy Sedaris to be his VP. And for Amy to fake a pregnancy. Please comment or otherwise help beef up this idea.
http://tinyurl.com/7mdhmg3
--Ottoline
"I don't believe in evolution."
ReplyDeleteIt's science, silly.
You can choose to not believe in unicorns or dragons or ghosts (all of which are in the bible, by the way)...
But you don't get to decide to not believe in science. Because science is provable, in repeatable steps.
For example:
1+1=2.
2+2=4.
etc.
on up to differential and integral calculus, and beyond.
(I don't believe in differential equations.)
Same with chemistry.
(I don't believe in atoms.)
Same with physics.
(I don't believe in gravity.)
Same with astronomy.
(I don't believe in planets or stars or galaxies or black holes.)
Same with biology.
(I don't believe in DNA.)
And you no what? If you could PROVE intelligent design - through repeatable, empiracal data (- the way evolution has been proven) - you'd get a nobel prize.
But just because your interpretation of the King James version of some translations of ancient greek and hebrew texts says it is so
...doesn't make it so.
So until you can develop empiracal data and repeatable experiments that move your theistic creation hypothesis into theory...
then creationism (intelligent design) has no more place in the science classroom than astrology has in an astronomy class.
No prize for you.
Fair is fair, if public schools must give equal treatment to creationism, then religious schools and sunday school must give equal time to evolution. Right? ;))
ReplyDeleteYou wanna shut this stupidity down, make it apply both ways (and to ALL religions) and watch how fast they drop the fight.
It's disturbing at the very least. However, Gryphen, as a Christian, I will tell you that neither I not many, many other Christians whom I know believe in creationism.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is "intelligent design?" If you have intelligent design, don't you have to have a designer? So how is it different from creationism? Idiots.
What's interesting to me is to see the "thought processes" of the students. "If I cain't figger out how it could happin, then it clearly cain't be possibul".
ReplyDeleteI mean, the stupid, stupid girl saying we "can't possibly" have evolved from more simple life forms simply because her clearly limited mental capacity can't see how it could possibly work. (and with "teachers" like that guy, she never ever will. But then, how much book learnin' do ya need to be a baby factory or dig ditches anyway?)
The conservative mind at work folks...
O/T - I think Rachel Maddow reads here. She's doing a whole segment on "flabbergast" & "flabbergasted"!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I found out about this, I looked up the sponsors and their districts. They are in the reddest of the red parts of the state. One is even from the Joplin area. They have a lot bigger priorities that they need to address.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sad to hear about this, but there are a lot of nice, blue areas in Missouri as well, so I doubt it will pass statewide.
BTW, I'm a devout Christian, but I don't want my children learning creationism in the schools. We take them to church for faith based education. Creationism is not science.
Damn, I thought I left this sort of crap when we moved from Texas.
How long until the "Exodus" (Hi Sarah, Welcome Back!) of talent occurs?
ReplyDeleteWould you choose to work for a company in MO if you had young children?
I wouldn't!
1. what in the holy fuck is "biological intelligent design"?
ReplyDelete2. there's a reason they call missouri "mysery"
Steve Martin once did a bit that said if you want to play a funny joke on your children you should "Teach your children to talk wrong." Then when they enter first grade and ask to go to the bathroom, they say "May I mambo dogface to the banana patch?" Hahahaha! Right? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteSadly, this is what the crazed Fundies are trying to pull off with their "Creationism" talk.
Smart people rock!! OBAMA 2012!!
Seems to this casual observer that indeed, evolution is not valid theory. The fact that legislation like this is even suggested tells me that in truth we are devolving.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, ignorance. One of the biggest exports of the southern US along with cancer causing tobacco and shitty politicians (yeah, I KNOW there are intelligent people in the south. I've met some, they usually HATE it there. I will assert, however, that a drawl makes one sound at least 45 I.Q. points dimmer).
ReplyDeleteFirst, evolution is becoming less and less of a "theory" every day. There's volumes of empirical data demonstrating direct observation of evolution in progress. Seems to have been verified pretty well.
Second, there's a fucking huge difference between belief and knowledge. Schools should impart knowledge. If that rubs against your beliefs, so what. Check your superstitions and mythology at the door.
Third:
"...how can an African American person, like, evolve from a white person? We're different skin."
DING DING DING!! We have a real winner here! Oy!! Fact is, Cletus, that human beings FIRST evolved in Africa (that's a c-o-n-t-i-n-e-n-t, serror) and migrated from there. We're NOT "different skin," we're the same skin with various levels of melanin, which is produced to protect the skin from sunlight. Just because one does not understand the science behind a given process or fact does not nullify said process or fact. For example, if I did not fully understand the internal workings of a hard drive I would not have license to call Seagate and say, "You guys are full of shit, I full on know there's a bunch of tiny guys with blackboards in there writing everything down."
The real shame is that these kids deserve to have their horizons expanded. But because their fundie nutjob parents have already indoctrinated them, and because their fundie nutjob teachers pander to their "beliefs," they're just going to grow up with huge voids in their understanding of the beauty of nature and the universe in general. But they will be able to bask in the warm fuzzies knowing that they'll always be right if they just "believe." Tragic.
These lunatics make me sick. I used to belong to the MCLU, the local branch of the ACLU just to help fund the fight against this nonsense.
ReplyDeleteI offer the following rebuttal to this jackass:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist#p/u/2/N0Ii_D3uDDY
Take 5 minutes out of your day and check it out.
Thank you
Add this to the mix - http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/education-leaders-slave-math-1296640.html?cxtype=rss_news - and there's your entire 21st century curriculum apparently. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteThose poor kids are disturbingly misinformed, and if they remain where they are, there's little hope that will change.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, your "challenging" religion makes for some interesting posts and comments. I think you need to be reminded sometimes not to generalize. You tend to lump all Christians together, when that term includes a wide range of churches with diverse beliefs and practices.
I'll go out on a limb and guess that those lobbying for this Missouri bill belong to the small but growing category known as fundamentalists. They don't even read the Bible, or they would know that right off the bat, Genesis gives two different versions of the creation myth. These are the last people in the world who should be dictating public school curricula.
The largest percent of Christian schools are Catholic, and for years Catholic schools have been teaching evolutionary science. This isn't surprising when you consider how many great scientists throughout history have been Catholic. Google "father of genetics" or "father of the Big Bang theory" for just two examples.
Please keep in mind that science and religion are not mutually exclusive. When President Obama appointed Dr. Francis Collins to head the National Institute of Health, some questioned his choice because Dr. Collins is an evangelical Christian who believes in miracles. He's also a geneticist. The 1990 Nobel prize winner for medicine was a practicing Catholic who won the award for his work in organ transplants.
After a Presbyterian upbringing, I was an agnostic adult for decades. Now I'm a Catholic, persuaded by years of study of the church's ancient mystical/contemplative tradition. I'm a retired teacher, and through the years my faith or lack of faith never informed my lesson plans.
No religious group has any business meddling in public education. The shockingly ignorant statements of the people in this video are evidence of that.
Funny thing is, very few religions believe this Fundie claptrap (or have their own version of creationism). So, if it passes (which it won't) then every religion can lobby the government to teach their version of the origin of life. Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,(not really a religion but politicians wouldn't get that). There's lots more where that came from! After all, we are the good ol' America, home to religious freedom.
ReplyDeleteBe careful what you con your Fundies into doing - it will backfire.
In order to teach that 'god' created all life on earth you must show what 'he/she' created. There is an excellent book for this, which can be used as a text book. You can find details here, along with some sample pages: Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation, The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex.
ReplyDelete"Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation is a unique guide to the [evolutionary] biology of sex. It is narrated through an advice column in which Dr Tatiana, the racy new agony aunt, replies to letters from organisms worried about the peculiar things their lovers do.
Manatees, honeybees, spiders, black vultures, green spoon worms, hyenas, slime molds: these are just a few of the troubled creatures Dr Tatiana advises. Their problems? These run the gamut from giant sperm to dwarf males, from homosexuality to infidelity, from sexual cannibalism to incest. Rich in natural history, this fascinating, accessible, hilarious book is a must-have for anyone interested in sex and why it so often seems to be such a bother."
It really is quite wonderful. There is also a DVD show about this in 3, 1-hr sections. It was shown all around the world except in the most backward parts like Iran, Saudi Arabia and the USA.
I wonder how long the new law will last once the kiddies start reading this?
Bwahaha!
O M Dog!
ReplyDeleteI'll agree with you only if the peanutbutter is open in a "nut free" demarcated zone. ;o)
I'm not familiar with this bullshit, is there a brand that isn't stupid and racist in the name of "belief"? Or is all crazy the same brand?
Great Post, Gryph
I saw a documentary years ago that argued FOR evolution, explaining that all life came from the sea, and using the development stages of a fetus floating in Amniotic Fluid and a fertilized chicken egg juxtaposing it to the Adam from dirt/Eve from rib story. It would send these people over the edge!
Quote: "I still can't figure out if they're Christians because they're nuts or they're nuts because they're Christians!"
ReplyDeleteThis man is a horrible, unqualified teacher. He has not taught his students what scientific theory means. (The body of evidence supports the theory, and it has not been challenged by contrary evidence). These students have not been taught natural selection. This should not be called a science teacher. If he were teaching in my kids' school, he would be laughed out by the students.
ReplyDelete"Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,(not really a religion but politicians wouldn't get that)." Posted by Marthy UYS at 8:43.
ReplyDelete---------------
From time to time people comment that Buddhism is not really a religion. Perhaps they mean well, indicating that they perceive Buddhism as free of self-righteous dogma, condemnation, or other attributes that can lead to narrow, repressive thinking.
Buddhism is a religion, a philosophy, an ethical system, and a deeply ingrained cultural influence throughout much of Asia. Thanks to my husband's military career, I lived for years in Asia and taught English to university students in Korea and Japan. In the classroom, in tea houses, and in our homes, my students and I had personal discussions about religion. Many of them identified their religion as Buddhism.
One of my students invited me to her wedding, which was prayerful and had similarities to both a typical Christian wedding and a Wiccan hand-fasting. Many of my Buddhist friends had shrines in their homes very much like my personal Catholic altar, with candles, incense, flowers, statues (such as Buddha and Kwan Yin, bodhisattva of compassion), prayer beads, and pictures of deceased loved ones. They pray before these altars and attend services in temples.
There are deities and demons in Buddhism. In my scrapbooks, I have pictures of ancient wooden temples with colorful carvings of frightful demons on the outer walls. (Taking pictures inside was not permitted.)
In Daegu, I visited a mudang (female shaman) and took part in a ritual called a kut. Her name was Kim Po Sal. (Po Sal means devout Buddhist teacher and intermediary between man and the deity.)
Mrs. Kim spun prayer beads around on a chop table for a minute, gave several piercing whistles, and then channeled predictions from her spirit guide. She said the spirit Taedol, who inhabits the roof beams of homes, was angry because he felt slighted, and was threatening the harmony of my home. The mudang directed me to make offerings of rice, silk worm pupa, fabric, and other items to the spirit for seven nights. She also made several predictions for my future, which were of the generic cold-reading type.
Buddhist monks lead lives of prayer, poverty, contemplation, and self-denial, not unlike Catholic orders such as the Trappists. Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who was a close colleague of Suzuki, Thich Nhat Han, and the Dalai Lama, who called him their brother. He wrote several books on Zen, and was one of many philosophers who saw close parallels between the parables of Jesus and Zen koan.
When I saw the comment that Buddhism is not really a religion, I wanted to share my close personal experiences with Buddhists and their spiritual practices. It's a religion, and that is a positive, not a negative fact.
Slight correction...
ReplyDelete"It would NEVER dawn on me to enter a church, synagogue, or temple and start telling the children attending that their beliefs are wrong and demand equal time to prove my point. Why is Missouri trying to allow the reverse of that to happen in their public education system?"
They would not be saying the student's beliefs are wrong, they would be saying the FACTS are wrong and supplementing those with belief.
It never occurred to me that the world could get dumber. I mistakenly thought that knowledge accumulates and each generation is wiser and more intelligent. I was wrong and I am living witness to the dumbing down of America. And teaching "from the Bible" is what leads to religious wars - my God is better than your God. Is it possible to relive the Dark Ages?
ReplyDeleteLiving in this state of "Misery" (I'm from "somewhere else"), I'm horrified that this might be presented to my grandchildren as "science."
ReplyDeleteAnd in reply to the young idiots in that video's classroom, saying there's no evolution because God doesn't "have to do" evolution is like saying to the person setting up a huge domino cascade/display, "You don't have to go through all that, you can just knock over that last one and be done with it."
Maybe so, but where's the fun in that?
Isn't the point of a domino display is seeing it happen? Seeing it all play out???
sigh.
Please note: "Biological Intelligent Design" is NOT "Super-Natural" or "Deist" intelligent design, and basically holds that we were all created by some higher BIOLOGICAL creator. (which would be the "scientific" theory, rather than the superstitious theory)
ReplyDeleteStuff THAT in your Creationist pipe and smoke it!
Besides which, the Establishment Clause should (that's "should") prevent them from teaching just one religion's creation myths, so get ready for the Scientology version of creation too (along with ancient Greek, Hindu, Gnostic and others).
Oh, how these christianist fundies have stunted, diminished, minimized, and disrespected the Almighty Creator they claim to worship.
ReplyDeleteThey have created a god in their own image, endowing him with their own limited capabilities and understanding, though they profess to believe just the opposite.
Their god puttered around for six literal 24 hour days, then "rested" (sat on a rock, wiped his brow, and looked around for a cold beer?).
Any of the major scientific cosmologies is more in accord with the psalmist: "When I gaze at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast made, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou dost care?"
It is in science that one can, if so inclined, find the wonder and glory of a spiritual layer of the universe.
Any teacher who wants to wake up their students should have them write an essay explaining why there are 2 sexes, not 1 or 3 or 10 or 100.
ReplyDeleteAnd tell them "because god said so" is a fail - they have to explain WHY he-she-it did.
The truly smart ones will figure out that 2 sexes proves evolution. They get an A.
This is why amateurs should NOT be in charge of education. We've got amateurs in the shape of politicians and school board dictating to professionals (that would be teachers) not only what they should teach but how they should teach it. Now we've even got parents telling the teachers what they are allowed and not allowed to teach. (New Hampshire, I believe.)
ReplyDeleteAnd you know who is going to be blamed when Missouri test scores go DOWN, right? Especially the science portion. Yep, they'll blame the teachers.
Could this be why the g NO p wants the science portions of NCLB dropped from the ESEA reauthorization? So that their right wing fundamentalist whackjobs can have their intelligent design and their NCLB too?
Teachers have NEVER had the respect they've earned as professionals in their field. Not like doctors or lawyers or architects or certified public accountants. Teachers have always been treated like babysitters in their junior year of high school that have to be told what to do, how to do it and watched all of the time to make sure they get it right. While at the same time failing to provide the money and resources to get the job done.
I've got an idea. Let's dump it all and let the teachers run things for a decade or two. Let them be in charge of the standards, the curriculum, the BUDGET, all of it. Let the public provide the money and let the teachers do the job they've trained and practiced for. Jobs they have MORE experience at than parents, school board members, most superintendents, politicians and the likes of Michelle Rhee, Eli Broad and Bill Gates.
Then maybe we'll have an educational system more like Finland and less like Afghanistan.
The Missouri legislature is proof positive of the impossibility of "Intelligent Design". I live in Missouri--I speak from experience.
ReplyDelete