This is just embarrassing

[caojyn]

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/oklahoma-hr1674-science-evolution-climate-change

In biology class, public school students can't generally argue that dinosaurs and people ran around Earth at the same time, at least not without risking a big fat F. But that could soon change for kids in Oklahoma: On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Common Education committee is expected to consider a House bill that would forbid teachers from penalizing students who turn in papers attempting to debunk almost universally accepted scientific theories such as biological evolution and anthropogenic (human-driven) climate change.

Gus Blackwell, the Republican state representative who introduced the bill, insists that his legislation has nothing to do with religion; it simply encourages scientific exploration. "I proposed this bill because there are teachers and students who may be afraid of going against what they see in their textbooks," says Blackwell, who previously spent 20 years working for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. "A student has the freedom to write a paper that points out that highly complex life may not be explained by chance mutations."

Stated another way, students could make untestable, faith-based claims in science classes without fear of receiving a poor mark.

HB1674 is the latest in an ongoing series of "academic freedom" bills aimed at watering down the teaching of science on highly charged topics. Instead of requiring that teachers and textbooks include creationism—see the bill proposed by Missouri state Rep. Rick Brattin—HB1674's crafters say it merely encourages teachers and students to question, as the bill puts it, the "scientific strengths and weaknesses" of topics that "cause controversy," including "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning."

Eric Meikle, education project director at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) in Oakland, California, says Oklahoma has proposed more anti-evolution legislation than any other state, introducing 8 bills with "academic freedom" language since 2004 (none has passed). "The problem with these bills is that they're so open-ended; it's a kind of code for people who are opposed to teaching climate change and evolution," Meikle says.

HB1674 goes further than a companion bill under consideration in the state Senate by explicitly protecting students, teachers, and schools from being penalized for subscribing to alternative theories. It does, however, say that children may still be tested on widely accepted theories such as anthropogenic climate change. "Students can't say because I don't believe in this, I don't want to learn it," says Blackwell. "They have to learn it in order to look at the weaknesses."

"An extremely high percentage of scientists will tell you that evolution doesn't have scientific weaknesses," says the NCSE's Meikle. "If every teacher, parent, and school board can decide what to teach on their own, you're going to have chaos. You can't deluge kids with every theory that's ever been considered since the beginning of time."

I know we're the buckle of the Bible Belt but come on...

 

[KOPBET]

In biology class, public school students can't generally argue that dinosaurs and people ran around Earth at the same time...

Surely they've seen the Flintstones. Sheesh.

 

[been]

Teachers know nothing of history or science. We did not come from monkeys. We fought a huge war back in the dinosaur times. This war was homo-sapiens vs neanderthals. We eventually became victorious and wiped out the dinosaurs by hunting them for their fur.

 

[caojyn]

Well yea we all know that god gave man guns so we could kill all the dinosaurs

 

[Jack T.]

When you lump "biological evolution" and "anthropogenic (human-driven) climate change" into the same "universally accepted theories", you lose all credibility.

You want to test kids on the THEORY of evolution, that's fine. But if you want to penalize students because they don't hold to that THEORY, that's a whole different matter.

Until the theory becomes a law, well, it's still just an idea.

 

[caojyn]

If any of you wanted to contact Rep Blackwell about HB1674 here is his contact info.
Gus Blackwell [email protected] (405) 557-7384

 

[BadgeBunny]

Good grief ...

 

[HMFIC]

Teachers know nothing of history or science. We did not come from monkeys. We fought a huge war back in the dinosaur times. This war was homo-sapiens vs neanderthals. We eventually became victorious and wiped out the dinosaurs by hunting them for their fur.

ha!!!

 

[dugby]

Todays popular views concerning "anthropogenic (human-driven) climate change" are mostly just misplaced ethnocentrism. Man is not the master of the the orbit of the planets anymore than he is the master of the climate. People just thinking more highly of themselves than they should. Sorry Mr College professor, but you can't blame all our misfortunes on your enemies.

It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so.
Will Rogers

 

[Street Rat]

Evolution is a theory, that's it, a "theory", never proven, but it's been taught as fact for many years. If evolution can't be proven, then what's the alternative?