Want to know where those horrible, deceptively-named “academic freedom” bills will take a state? Have a look at Louisiana.
Last year, Louisiana passed the Louisiana Science Education Act, a law that many scientists and educators said was a thinly veiled attempt to allow creationism and its variants into the science classroom. On Tuesday, the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted a policy that sharpens those fears, giving teachers license to use materials outside of the regular curriculum to teach “controversial” scientific theories including evolution, origins of life, and global warming. Backers of the law, including the Louisiana Family Forum, say it is intended to foster critical thinking in students. Opponents insist its only purpose is to provide a loophole for creationists to attack the teaching of evolution.
Will Louisiana be the scene of the next big lawsuit, costing some poor local school district a million bucks? It’s just a matter of time:
State education officials tasked with translating last year’s law into policy drafted a document that explicitly prohibits teachers from teaching intelligent design, but on 2 December, board members deferred a scheduled vote. Forrest says the advocates of the law used the delay to pressure education officials to remove that language and a disclaimer saying that religion should not be taught under the guise of critical thinking. On 13 January, the 11-member board unanimously approved a policy that contains no such caveats.
Louisiana joins the ranks of the IDIOTS who have rolled over on the issue of creationism. It’s a sad thing. Not because faith is a bad thing in its proper place. Not because religious fundamentalists do not have a right to their views. But because the state is siding with a backward thinking political system,that knows little about science,or real science education.
Such a shame for the students of that State.
Brandon,I think your title should really be “Louisiana science education is flushed down the S**T Hole”. I really hope we can aviod this situation in Florida.
“I really hope we can aviod this situation in Florida.” …
Ditto. I am optimistic that the current financial challenges facing Florida education will be front and center in the minds of all politicians involved.
At least that’s how it should be.
If this thing comes up again in Florida, or anywhere else, all we need is one sane legislator to propose an amendment something like this:
“Constitutional Purpose: (1) Nothing in this law mandates, authorizes, or permits the teaching of creationism, creation science, intelligent design, or any other religious or pseudo-scientific doctrine.
“(2) If this amendment is rejected by the legislature, a court should conclude from such rejection that the legislature specifically intended religious doctrines to be taught in our state schools.”
Addendum: I liked this so much I posted about it at my place. No need to go there, it’s pretty much like what I said here.
Well said Patrick:
If they want their brand of religion taught in school they should have the guts to stand up and say so!!!!!
To me, the fact that they do all this crazy and deceptive maneuvering shows they clearly understand that it’s unconstitutional.
Patrick- that’s brilliant, I love it!
Thanks, Green Earth. If I still like it in a few days (I keep tweaking it over at my place) maybe it could be brought to the attention of other “Citizens for Science” sites. I assume there’s someone here who’s in touch with them. I only know someone in two other groups, and this isn’t useful for them at the moment.