Creationism In Texas Public Schools 770
An anonymous reader writes "Slate reports on new anti-science education coming out of Texas. The state has a charter school system called Responsive Education Solutions, which is publicly funded. Unfortunately, 'it has been connected from its inception to the creationist movement and to far-right fundamentalists who seek to undermine the separation of church and state.' The biology workbook used in these schools actually reads, "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." It also brings up social Darwinism as if it's an aspect of evolutionary theory and introduces doubt that the Earth is billions of years old. The article continues, 'To get around court rulings, Responsive Ed and other creationists resort to rhetoric about teaching "all sides" of "competing theories" and claiming that this approach promotes "critical thinking." In response to a question about whether Responsive Ed teaches creationism, its vice president of academic affairs, Rosalinda Gonzalez, told me that the curriculum "teaches evolution, noting, but not exploring, the existence of competing theories."' Other so-called education texts being used by the Responsive Ed program teach Western superiority and how feminism forced women to 'turn to the state as a surrogate husband.'"
Not Just Texas (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Biology workbook (Score:5, Informative)
There's a lot that should get this squashed. Unfortunately, the person whose job it is to do the squashing (Sen. Dan Patrick, chair of the Texas Senate Education Committee) has said that he believes in Creationism and is a fan of the program.
WTF do I care? (Score:2, Informative)
I hate to be harsh about this, and I do feel sorry for the kids involved (they didn't ask to be taught dumb shit). But wtf do I care if a bunch of bible-thumping loonies want to teach their kids to be fucking stupid, just like mom and dad? If parents want to turn their kids into idiots, that less competition for me when the world needs real engineers to do real shit (stuff that requires real math, not prayer).
Re:With a grain of salt (Score:5, Informative)
Publicly funded charter schools, as is says right there in the damn summary. Public funding for any religious instruction is illegal, and for extremely good reasons. Every culture in history that went down that path ended up collectively insane and wildly dangerous.
Re:Teach all alternate theories (Score:5, Informative)
Absolutely, they should both be taught.
Just teach them appropriately: Evolution gets taught in Science, creationism gets taught in Religious Studies with all the other myths & legends.
Re:Biology workbook (Score:4, Informative)
we decided what we believe is more important than what is
Especially if what you believe is gleaned from your nightly newscast [ceasespin.org]. Far more people believe the TV than the Internet. The far-right has figured this out and is capitalizing on it at the polls.
Re:Humans are ignorant. Critical thinking IS king! (Score:5, Informative)
There are many theories on how the universe and life began.
This article is about evolution. Evolutionary theory is silent on how life first began. Read up a little before you weigh in with such a huge misconception. Here, take a look at this; it includes a cartoon to clarify the point.
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/misconceps/IAorigintheory.shtml
Re:Please tell me there is a court challenge alrea (Score:4, Informative)
Probably because it's not easy legally to fire an H1B before their visa time is up.
Opens the company to more lawsuits, and requires them to pay for the trip home.
http://www.murthy.com/2012/11/01/bona-fide-termination-requirement-for-h1b-employee/ [murthy.com]
Re:This is how the media controls you (Score:5, Informative)
Those trillion dollar 'deficits' are also a distraction, to justify austerity. It's the quadrillion dollar derivatives markets that will destroy your economies. Your political elites are merely servant to Wall Street banking elites.
Re:Biology workbook (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Biology workbook (Score:5, Informative)
You go with the majority rule because you live in a democracy. You teach kids biology because the majority decided to teach the kids biology. That includes evolution, because evolution is part of biology. That does not include creationism, because creationism and intelligent design are by their own axioms not biology-based models of the universe.
Re:Which makes no sense (Score:4, Informative)
Quite simple - the parts that are deemed metaphorical are not random. There exists a rare and endangered school of thought that seeks to take the bible in it's literary, cultural and historical context.
Re:Biology workbook (Score:5, Informative)
You go with the majority rule because you live in a democracy. You teach kids biology because the majority decided to teach the kids biology. That includes evolution, because evolution is part of biology. That does not include creationism, because creationism and intelligent design are by their own axioms not biology-based models of the universe.
Please don't say this. According to Gallup [gallup.com], 46% of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form than believe vs 47% who believe either "humans evolved, with God guiding" (32%) or "humans evolved, with God playing no part in the process" (15%). That's a terrifyingly slim margin for something that is strongly supported by actual science.
Re:Biology workbook (Score:5, Informative)
I find publicly the mormons or catholics may not say anything, but in their cannon its quite clear the earth is only a couple thousand years old.
That is not at all true of the Catholics. The pope (prior, not current) weighed in on the subject to say that the theory of evolution is not in any way in conflict with Catholic teachings or beliefs. That church accepts that the "7 days" of creation is essentially a literal metaphor, and the evolution could well be the mechanism their God set in motion in order to create the species.
Mormons, I don't know about. But considering that their entire religious beliefs were literally pulled out of a hat...
Re:Biology workbook (Score:5, Informative)
Yup. Also:
"I never spent much time in school, but I've taught ladies plenty"
-- The Fall Guy
"Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about science book
Don't know much about the French I took
But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this could be"
--Sam Cooke
The Woody Character in Cheers, the wise ignoramous who is shown as being smarter than Doctor Frasier Crane who is portrayed as an aloof buffoon.
I could go on.
Ignorance is revered in American culture. It's amazing how easy it is to spot when you start looking for it. It's like the loudly ticking clock that you didn't notice until someone pointed it out, but it's right there, hiding in plain sight.