Improving science edumacation in Louisiana

Roger, it would be sad that you are so ignorant about this topic, except that you are wilfully ignorant.

I am sure you are happier to continue the status quo of children learning practically nothing at all and being unable to read a science book if they ever bothered to open one.

Case in point: can you, without doing any research first, accurately lay out the areas where "creationists" and "evolutionists" agree and disagree? How many pages of Darwin's writing did you read in high school? College? Since then?

You are obviously not against spreading ignorance, as long as it is the ignorance you choose.

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Wow, SKL has it in for you!

It kills me when folks keep offering up junk as "science" when its just stuff that should have gone to the sewage treatment plant a long time ago.

I guess if the fringe groups want to remain ass-backwards that's fine - I just don't think they need to do it on my dime or try to influence my kids with it. I know evolution occurred, the evidence is overwhelming - as is global warming and so many other contested studies. Fantastical thinking is okay for Harry Potter and his world, but this world isn't structured that way.

Sigh. I wonder if SKL ever read any Jay Gould? I mean, if we're going to be current and talk about evolution we might as well talk about punctuated equilibrium and drift and all the other fun topics...

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What is also being missed in SKLs comment is that this earmark clearly violates the First Amdendment prohibition on laws favoring specific religions, as extended to states by the 14th Amendment.

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the best thing here is the fact that vitter is a huge hypocrite who has admitted to committing adultery with prostitutes... he is probably trying to use this 'educational' commitment to makeup for his past that is now coming to haunt him is a big way

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I thought that this post was very well-written, interesting, and provocative: Three things I look for in any piece of writing. Yet, I felt that your argument was flawed in several areas. You state that Senator Vitter wants to give money for “a Louisiana Christian group to undertake a study of and to produce a report on ways to improve science education in Louisiana.” You go on to discuss how teaching creationism in the classroom is detrimental to the education of the students. If you look back at the quote, you will see that Mr. Vitter wants to fund a study of how teaching creationism mixed with evolution works in Louisiana schools. The keyword there is study. The money will not go toward teaching creationism on a state-wide level, but rather selecting a few schools and noting how the students respond to parts of the Bible being taught at their schools. You go on to claim that the Louisiana Family Forum wants to “replace the teaching of established, uncontested science” with creationism. It appears that you wrote that and then try to pass it off as the goal of the LFF. I am not sure if you were paraphrasing something from the LFF or simply making that up. Next time, quote directly so as to avoid possible confusion between your opinions and your facts. At the end of your post you say “I’m glad my kids aren’t going to school in Louisiana.” This seems like a rather insulting and unnecessary addition to your post. The one thing that I really agree with you on is the separation of church and state. You say that “science can be left to the scientists and religion to the churches.” Overall, I thought that your post was not as informative as it could have been and too full of opinions to be looked at as a fair commentary on the subject matter. However, I thought it was both entertaining and fun to read.

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When I went to school they taught evolution. We had a few "fringe group" type students in our school, and their parents were given the option to sign a note exempting them from that particular week's discussion. They were given some other type of assignment (I do know that they DID have to do work that week). They were placed in a seperate room with a substitute teacher, and that was all there was to it. No one that I know of made a fuss about it. I do agree that science has it's place in science class, and religion at home. Those particular kids had parents who didn't want them exposed to something they viewed as morally wrong, and it was then their responsibility to teach them their creationist viewpoint.(or whatever viewpoint they had)

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You guys do realize that it's The THEORY of Evolution, right? A theory that, actually, is not "established and uncontested". Darwin himself was shocked at how quickly the public adopted his theory. *He* knew that it was just an idea, a hypothesis.

I happen to believe that Evolution and the idea of a Divine Creator can happily co-exist. I have heard some pretty foolish "examples" of evolution and it was quite clear that the person giving the examples didn't really understand Natural Selection and how it relates to the Theory of Evolution. I think a lot of people are in that boat.

I don't care too much about the Creation/Evolution debate. My concerns are usually with more practical matters. Someday, maybe I'll learn more about it, but right now, it just doesn't matter. I would, however, like to see both sides admit that what they believe is just that...a belief, not a proven fact.

Absence of proof is not proof of absence.

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Sandyone:

You are right about it being the theory of evolution. Of course, it is also the theory of gravity. The scientific method can't prove theories, only disprove them. As we have imperfect knowledge, we have theories that explains things. We can keep them until they are either disproven or another theory can explain everything the old theory could explain and more.

If want to add religious explanations into science class, why only judeo-Christian, other religions have creation stories.

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What freaks me out is that today's parents are afraid of what will happen if their children are informed that there is more than one viewpoint on matters we categorize as "science." No matter what they are teaching in my kids' science classes, I certainly hope they are aware that science is not fixed but a continuously evolving field that is continuously influenced by individual and national experience, politics, history, and spiritual beliefs.

I trust that my children's brains will not implode if they have this knowledge. Why are so many parents so afraid???

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