Intelligent Design
gregladen | January 21, 2008For your amusement, a selection from the public comments on the fight over science standards in Florida.
"How is anyone's life improved by believing in evolution?"
"I will not allow you to teach my child this no matter what you put in your curriculum. I stand for Christ and his creation."
"To teach only one theory is communistic."
"This is unacceptable, unless Biblical Creationism is taught alongside evolution."
"I strongly disagree with the term 'evolution' being used in kindergarten or any grade level. I would change the term 'evolution' to a more user friendly term such as 'adaptations…
gregladen | January 20, 2008Florida State Board of Education (Panda's thumb)
Ignorance By Design: Florida School Board Resolutions (Panda's Thumb)
What's your school board like? (Pharyngula)
Where did those anti-evolution resolutions come from? (Panda's Thumb)
gregladen | January 20, 2008Apropos the fight over excellent science education (as opposed to creationism) in Florida schools, is it OK for a church, which I presume has religious non profit status, to engage actively in an attempt to sway elected officials?
Regarding the State Board of Education meetings to discuss this issue in Florida ...
Also present at the Tampa SBOE meeting was Terry Kemple, member of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon where he is a leader of the church's Community Issues Committee. Kemple told the Witness his church has been informing its members about the science standards and encouraging…
gregladen | January 19, 2008This is Part 1 because there is more than one part. But I'm only going to do one of them, so it is Part 1 of 1. There is more than one "kind" of home schooler, home schooling parent, home schooling family, etc., and thus there are multiple attitudes. But a good chunk of the home schooling population, represented by these excerpts from their own rhetoric, are more than a little annoying, and are the reason why we should always be suspicious of home schooling and home schoolers until we see their credentials.
Home Schooling Is a Good Choice for Christian Parenting
If you want to impart a…
gregladen | January 19, 2008Today's St. Petersburg Times has a letter from Bill Foster. Foster was the outgoing city councilman who wrote a letter to the school board opposing the teaching of modern Evolutionary Biology, or at least, the teaching of modern science without wrapping it in a medieval blanket of Christian Inquisitorial reasoning. Let's have a look at Bills latest letter.
On Jan. 2, I spent my last day as a St. Petersburg city councilman. I was heralded by my colleagues and received a key to the city from the mayor. After almost 10 years of service, I was forced out of office due to term limits. Many nice…
gregladen | January 19, 2008Sorry, this is not as fresh and current as I would like, but you will still find it interesting. The National Center for Science Education has a news release covering a number of topics:
DECISION ON ICR'S GRADUATE SCHOOL DEFERRED
The Institute for Creation Research's quest for Texas certification of its
graduate school, which would offer a master's degree in science education,
is on hold, at the ICR's request. A preliminary assessment of the ICR's
facilities described the educational program as "plausible," adding, "The
proposed degree would be generally comparable to an initial master's…
gregladen | January 19, 2008Education committees are beginning to review the science standards for Texas Schools this month. There are indications that efforts will be made to weaken the standing of evolution, or insinuate creationism, creation science, or intelligent design into the standards.
The current Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards includes a statement that sudents must learn "the theory of biological evolution." The standards also specify that students must apply critical thinking, address "strengths and weaknesses" in theories.
This does not sound like a bad idea, but it is exactly the kind of…
gregladen | January 19, 2008First, from the standard news sources in Jacksonville:
Despite impassioned opposition from science experts, teachers and some clergy, Clay County School Board members unanimously resolved Tuesday night that evolution should be presented as a theory, and not fact, in the classroom.
The board passed a resolution, proposed by Superintendent David Owens, asking the Florida Department of Education to reword its newly proposed state standards, which presents evolution as "the fundamental concept underlying all of biology and is supported in multiple forms of scientific evidence."
Baker County…
gregladen | January 19, 2008From the Texas Citizens for Science:
In an email message to its friends, the Institute for Creation Research proposes The Disjunctive Duality of Science Distinction, a new argument to support its effort to obtain Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approval for its masters degree program in science education. The argument is actually an old one. It posits that two types of science exist, "experimental" science and "forensic, historical, or orgins" science. Only the first is real science, while the second--which, needless to say, includes evolutionary biology--is not a reliable science…
gregladen | January 18, 2008[Post Revised]
According to one story:
After a public hearing Thursday evening to discuss a possible change in the way science courses are taught in public schools, the Clay County [Florida] School Board voted unanimously to support a change in the state science curriculum that would use the word evolution in the classroom.
The state Board of Education will scheduled to vote Feb. 19 on the change, which would require more in-depth teaching of evolution and other scientific topics while setting specific benchmarks for students to meet.
Source is here.
But according to other sources, things…
gregladen | January 16, 2008From the National Center for Science Education:
Science, Evolution, and Creationism, the new book from the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine designed to give the public a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the current scientific understanding of evolution and its importance in the science classroom, is receiving wide attention -- and, what's more, praise both from the scientific community and newspapers across the country for its uncompromising endorsement of the necessity of including evolution in science education.
Stories about Science, Evolution, and Creationism…
gregladen | January 15, 2008Texas higher education officials announced today that they have postponed action on a Bible-oriented group's proposal to offer a master's degree in science education.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board had been scheduled to consider the proposal by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research at a meeting Jan. 24.
But Eddy Miller, dean of the institute's graduate school, said in an e-mail to the coordinating board Monday that the school needs more time "to do justice to the concerns you raised," according to a news release issued by the coordinating board. Miller asked the…
gregladen | January 15, 2008If you follow the creationist news stories from around the country, you get a lot of the same exact thing over and over again, and it is hard to identify the novel or persistent elements in the flow of information. But increasingly it is clear that Bill Foster of St. Petersburg Florida is somewhat novel and starting to look persistent.
Foster was a relatively typical family values fiscal conservative kind of city council member. Term limits have forced him out of his job, which is too bad because maybe he would have just continued along that course minding his own business and not doing…
gregladen | January 13, 2008It is science fair season! Elmer's Inc is cranking out the three-part display boards, Office Max is stocking up on its colored paper and glue sticks, and thousands upon thousands of kids are working out the fine details of the hypothesis they want to test using an experiment that can be demonstrated in the Science Fair.
Pretty boring, actually.
Unless you focus on the Christian Creationist Science Fairs. They are Always so much fun. And remember, Greg Laden's Blog here at scienceblogs.com is your Christian Creation Science Creationist Science Fair Center! Keep checking back!
For now, I…
gregladen | January 13, 2008By now you all know about Bill Foster, an outgoing council member in St. Petersburg, Florida, who has very strong creationist leanings. Foster had written a widely cited letter linking Hitler and the Columbine shooters to Darwinism. I thought it would be fair to have the ENTIRE letter written by foster available, rather than allowing this quote mining to go unanswered!
This is a transcription of a PDF file available at the St. Petersburg Times.
The Honorable Nancy N. Bortock, Chairman
All Pinellas County School Boared Members
P.O. Box 2942
Largo, Florida 33779-2942
Re: Evolution…
gregladen | January 12, 2008Florida has a purifying effect on politicians. Around the nation, there is a range of opinion among politicians about science education and other issues, but it seems that in Florida, we have a purified strain of politicians. They are pure idiots.
A likely future candidate for Mayor of St. Petersburg, Bill Foster, believes that the study of Darwinism led Hitler to come up with the Holocaust, and the Columbine shooters to come up with murder and mayhem. Foster, currently a city council member in St. Petersburg, wrote a letter to the Pinellas County School Board (considering changes in the…
gregladen | January 11, 2008The latest on the Florida fight over the use of the actual word "evolution" in the classroom. (Or, more specifically, in the science standards)
A panel of education experts just wrapped up three days of meetings at the state Department of Education to hammer out new standards. The state Board of Education will have the final say next month.
The way science is taught in Florida public school classrooms could soon change. Right now, the state science curriculum uses the words "biological changes over time" instead of "evolution".
Biology teacher Nicholas Daigle believes the current standards…
gregladen | January 11, 2008Sure, the Taylor County school board was apparently the first to pass a resolution complaining about evolution, but they're not the only one.
Two more counties passed resolutions, too: Baker County and Holmes County.
Florida Citizens for Science and Dispatches from the Culture Wars are covering this.
gregladen | January 11, 2008Here's a novel idea for creationists: Be honest!
As you know, the Institute for Creation Research is trying to get an online Masters Degree in "science education" approved in Texas. A faux committee comprised of nincompoops and creationists has approved the degree at the first stage, and it is now being considered by the Texas higher education commission. (Details here)
A recent report indicates that the Texas Commissioner of Higher Education has chimed in on the suggestion that this degree simply be called a "degree in creation studies." Interesting solution.
Apparently, one of the…
gregladen | January 6, 2008I don't like the definition of macro vs. micro evolution. But I do enjoy the way this video makes fun of creation science proponents.