An evolved form of creationism
Just in case you thought this country had finally decided to teach science according to the precepts of science, here comes Louisiana with another stab at wedging creationism/intelligent design/teachers' own random thoughts into the mix.
According to Education Week, Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the misnamed Louisiana Science Education Act, which says that teachers must use the material from standard science textbooks — but should feel free, at the same time, to "supplement" those with self-chosen materials that examine scientific theories "in an objective manner," objective meaning something like, "Here's what's wrong with evolution." The law, by not mandating the instruction of creationism, might prove more difficult to challenge in court, at least until some teacher's idea of objective supplemental material clashes with a parent's demand for straight, unadulterated science instruction.
Considering Louisiana schools' low performance on national tests, which makes California look not so bad by comparison, you'd think legislators would be worrying about getting these kids ready for jobs and college instead of monkeying around with science instruction.
Bad science teachers in Louisiana now have the right to be incompetent. They are now allowed to lie to their students about science. Most likely they were doing this already, illegally, but nobody is likely to complain in a creationist infested state like Louisiana.
I hope Louisiana gets stuck with an expensive trial. If this anti-science bill costs the taxpayers of Louisiana millions of dollars in legal bills, maybe creationists in other states might leave science education alone.
Posted by: bobxxxx | July 25, 2008 at 02:01 AM
Back in 2005, the Kansas board wanted to change the standards. The University of Kansas requires a high-school science course for admission. The course everyone takes is biology. The University threatened not to accept a Kansas HS biology course if the proposed standards were adopted. This apparently had at least some effect on the decision.
Posted by: Olorin | July 26, 2008 at 07:38 PM