Kansas moves to stem role of evolution in teaching

[Aspirin99]

My blood is boiling.

Kansas moves to stem role of evolution in teaching

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/08/10/life.evolution.reut/index.html

Wednesday, August 10, 2005; Posted: 3:58 p.m. EDT (19:58 GMT)

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) -- After months of debate over science and religion, the Kansas Board of Education has tentatively approved new state science standards that weaken the role evolution plays in teaching about the origin of life.

[Edited for copyright. The rest is available via the link]

[JPD]

It makes me want to eat my own head. All that's stopping me is the fact that I've just had lunch.

[JPD]

My blood is boiling.

Kansas moves to stem role of evolution in teaching

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/08/10/life.evolution.reut/index.html

Wednesday, August 10, 2005; Posted: 3:58 p.m. EDT (19:58 GMT)

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) -- After months of debate over science and religion, the Kansas Board of Education has tentatively approved new state science standards that weaken the role evolution plays in teaching about the origin of life.


Off to a bit of a rocky start then. Not that these people are interested in educating themselves about the difference between EVOLUTION and ABIOGENESIS. Gah!


The 10-member board must still take a final vote, expected in either September or October, but a 6-4 vote on Tuesday that approved a draft of the standards essentially cemented a victory for conservative Christian board members who say evolution is largely unproven and can undermine religious teachings about the origins of life on earth.


Undermine them by....showing that religious teachings are baseless ideas for jerks?


"We think this is a great development ... for the academic freedom of students," said John West, senior fellow of the Discovery Institute, which supports intelligent design theory.


Oh for the love of.......freedom as in your brain not requiring its connections to the user?


Intelligent design proposes that some features of the natural world are best explained as products of a considered intent as opposed to a process of natural selection.


We'll um locate the evidence at a later stage. Right now all our resources are tied up.



The board is sending its drafted standards to a Denver-based education consultant before a final vote, planned for either September or October.

If they win final approval, Kansas will join Minnesota, Ohio and New Mexico, all of which have adopted critical analysis of evolution in the last four years.

The new science standards would not eliminate the teaching of evolution entirely, nor would they require that religious views, also known as creationism, be taught, but it would encourage teachers to discuss various viewpoints and eliminate core evolution theory as required curriculum.

[Edited in line with OP edit -- Oolon]


Beliefs, exactly, no?


The hearings came 80 years after evolution was the subject of the famous "Scopes" trial in Tennessee in which teacher John Thomas Scopes was accused of violating a ban against teaching evolution.

Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Don't worry about the fact that he was acquitted.

[Oolon Colluphid]

Don't worry about the fact that he was acquitted.
Sorry JPD, but no. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. On appeal, the defence lawyers' arguments were all rejected, but the appeal court set aside the conviction anyway on a technicality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial

[Sven]

My blood is boiling.
Mine too:

Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Some people apparently can not read. *shakeshead*

One comment on the article [emphasis mine]:
Critics say the moves are part of a continuing national effort by conservative Christians to push their secular views into the public education process.
Am I alone in thinking that this does not make the slightest sense? :confused:

[Oolon Colluphid]

Oi! Sven! Who's the moderator here, eh? :p:D

[Sven]

Oi! Sven! Who's the moderator here, eh? :p:D
Sorry. Just can not resist. :p
While I am at it: I doesn't help much deleting the OP when JPD quotes it entirely, don't you think? :Cheeky:

[Oolon Colluphid]

entirely
Bugger... :banghead:

[the_cave]

Off to a bit of a rocky start then. Not that these people are interested in educating themselves about the difference between EVOLUTION and ABIOGENESIS. Gah!
But then does that mean the school board hasn't actually done anything wrong?

[JPD]

Sorry JPD, but no. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. On appeal, the defence lawyers' arguments were all rejected, but the appeal court set aside the conviction anyway on a technicality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial

Oops - back to the drawing board for me. Of course he wasn't because he was fined but the fine should have been set by the jury rather than by the judge. The dismissal of the case put an end to any hopes of challenging the decision.

[JPD]

Sorry. Just can not resist. :p
While I am at it: I doesn't help much deleting the OP when JPD quotes it entirely, don't you think? :Cheeky:

I try to do my bit. :D

[abaddon]

One comment on the article [emphasis mine]:

Am I alone in thinking that this does not make the slightest sense? :confused:


I don't see the world "secular" in the article. Have they removed it? They'd have to, for it to make sense.

What I'd like to know is: Who's this Denver-based education consultant that they're sending the drafts to?

[Worldtraveller]

What I'd like to know is: Who's this Denver-based education consultant that they're sending the drafts to?
See this thread (http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=133296) for some of the digging I did on both the newest science standards, and the Mid Contintinent Regional Educational Laboratory that is their review consultant.

Cheers,
Lane

[Donnmathan]

Whoa, Minnesota's on that list??? I didn't think anything CLOSE to the Dover/Kansas level made it through here! *grinds teeth*

[MiddleMan]

The 10-member board must still take a final vote, expected in either September or October, but a 6-4 vote on Tuesday that approved a draft of the standards essentially cemented a victory for conservative Christian board members who say evolution is largely unproven and can undermine religious teachings about the origins of life on earth.

What, and the religious teachings about the origins of life on earth have been largely proven in comparison? What's with these people?

Can we say that wholely unproven religious teachings about the origins of life on earth undermine evolution theory?