Minnesota Education Standards

[RufusAtticus]

Damn it, pz, what are you rednecks up to?


CREATIONISM THREATENS MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARDS:
AIBS/NCSE LAUNCH LIST SERVE TO COMBAT THREAT

In June 2003 Minnesota began the process of developing
state science standards for K-12 education. Minnesota's
goal is to have science standards in place in time for the 2004-05
academic year. Some science education advocates warn that well-placed
and active advocates for intelligent design and creationism may
negatively affect Minnesota's standards process. The Minnesota
Education Commissioner selected the committee that will draft the
standards.

Minnesota Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke, in
an interview with WCCO TV Channel 4 in Minnesota stated,
"I believe that God created the heavens and the Earth. I don't know
how he did it." Yecke hopes that "this [evolution] would not become a
sticking point" in the development of the science standards. In light
of Yecke's statements, Randy Moore, a biologist at the University of
Minnesota and editor of the journal American Biology
Teacher, told WCCO that he would not be surprised if
political considerations influenced the selection of
members of the standards writing committee. In response,
Yecke stated, "let's see?let's see what happens when we
put the committee together." Yecke has requested
clarification from the U.S. Department of Education on the
so-called Santorum Amendment to the No Child Left Behind
Act. Yecke is waiting to see if she receives the same
guidance provided to Ohio. Yecke seems optimistic that
teachings about a higher being may be able to be included
wherever the topic of biological evolution is covered. A
recent article by John Welbes of the Pioneer Press reports
that "The group writing Minnesota's new science standards
won't be asked to choose between teaching evolution or
creationism, but it will get a recommendation from the
state's education commissioner that students be exposed to
differing views on the subject." Yecke has also expressed
a preference that issues related to evolution education be
left to the discretion of local school districts and
teachers.

As part of the effort to ensure that scientists,
educators, and other concerned citizens are kept informed about the
process, a list serve has been established as part of the American
Institute of Biological Sciences
(AIBS) and National Center for Science Education (NCSE)
State Evolution List Serve Network. Interested Minnesota residents are
encouraged to join the list serve.
Information about the new Minnesota list serve or other state
evolution list serves in the network may be obtained at
http://www.aibs.org/outreach/evlist.html.

[Yangja Isuko]

Yecke hopes that "this [evolution] would not become a
sticking point" in the development of the science standards.


he makes evolution sound like the unfortunate incident with mah uncle billy-bob-jean-bob-bob-billy who unfortunately suffered from megalama.....thinking he was big and powerfull which caused him to want to take over the world.

but we don't talk about that much.

[Donnmathan]

Great, so now the Great Evolution Debate comes to MY home town! Yecke is as much a fool as the guy in the governer's office, so one can't exactly expect great things, but this? As Yangja so aptly pointed out, where this goes, a somewhat nasty joke seems to follow - first Kansas, then Michigan, now we get it. Time to write to the state rep and ask them to keep religon out of the science classroom.

[Godless Dave]

FYI, Yecke is a she.

But you're right about the fool part. And she's the Education Commissioner.

[Donnmathan]

FYI, Yecke is a she.

Never said otherwise - just said Yecke was as much a fool as the guy in the governer's office. (If you were talking to me on that - otherwise, nm, lol) ;) Seriously though, what do you think are the chances they will keep that out of the final draft?

Oh, and Rufus? REDNECKS? We done be NORTH ah da REAL rednecks! Ya know, up here where da ice done froze 'r' brains, don' ya know!

[Rhaedas]

Yecke seems optimistic that teachings about a higher being may be able to be included wherever the topic of biological evolution is covered.

A) What scientific value does this serve? (None)

B) Which one of several thousand higher beings are we focusng on? (wild guess...)

C) I hope this massive not-really-religion teaching doesn't take away time from educating our kids on what's left of the Constitution.

[penumbra]

Maybe Yecke needs a visit from River?

:eek:

[monkenstick]

is there nowhere we can be safe from stupidity?

[Jesus Tap-Dancin' Christ]

Sad thing is she's no better than our last one. Idiots have been in the Guv's office of Minnesota since I've lived here.

[openeyes]

You can read the text of Yecke's speech to open the first meeting of the science standards committe here. (http://education.state.mn.us/stellent/groups/public/documents/translatedcontent/pub_028955.jsp)

Especially troubling was this section:

This time, we are faced with some controversial issues in the area of science. Scientific theories such as biological evolution can be the basis for a lot of emotional debate, as strong feelings are held by good people on both sides of such issues.

To prevent such issues from becoming a stumbling block to the science committee, I am suggesting that some congressional language be inserted somewhere in the science document. It might be appropriate, for example, to place this language in the first part of the conceptual framework where the history and nature of science is discussed. In this way, we make it clear that decisions on the issue can be discussed and decided at the local level.
There was a place on the website where you could send a message. I sent one saying that if we are talking STATE science standards, then the presentation of evolution ought to be listed as a standard and not left up to local school boards since there wasn't much controversy among SCIENTISTS that evolution is the basis to biological explanations. It would be a disservice to our students not to present it as fact.

I know that I'm planning to attend any public input meetings in my area that are scheduled after the committee makes its first report to re-emphasize my point in case the committee has kow-towed to her recommendation.

[Godless Dave]

Good for you, Openeyes. I'll send in a comment too when I calm down. I wonder if it would also be worth it to contact biology faculty at the state's colleges and universities alerting them to this nonsense. Maybe a unified statement from faculty at the U, Macalester, Carleton, and St. Thomas would help counter this idiocy.

[Roland98]

Originally posted by Donnmathan
Great, so now the Great Evolution Debate comes to MY home town! Yecke is as much a fool as the guy in the governer's office, so one can't exactly expect great things, but this? As Yangja so aptly pointed out, where this goes, a somewhat nasty joke seems to follow - first Kansas, then Michigan, now we get it. Time to write to the state rep and ask them to keep religon out of the science classroom.

You left out Ohio. We had a fun run with them too. ;)

[KC]

What you need is a Billboard campaign, showing a kid with a duncecap reading 'proposed minnesota science standards' gazing longingly at a Harvard pennant, with the caption:

'Remember: the rest of the country isn't lowering its science standards.'

KC

[Wyrdsmyth]

Viking fundamentalists? Norse creationism? What is that? Teaching kids that a giant, supernatural cow licked the world out of a chunk of ice? Or the world came from the bones of a giant? How does that go again, exactly?

[openeyes]

Originally posted by KC
What you need is a Billboard campaign, showing a kid with a duncecap reading 'proposed minnesota science standards' gazing longingly at a Harvard pennant, with the caption:

'Remember: the rest of the country isn't lowering its science standards.'

KC That's a point I hope they're getting. I know when I went to a Minnesota Catholic college in 1976, the basic biology class got right into evolution. I did a quick survey of some of the local colleges with religious connections and most of them mention evolution in their general biology classes.

Not only does this creationism-bent (the young-earth type anyway) cause problems with biology, but it's hard to teach an earth science course and have kids object to your millions of years-old framework (as happened to my brother in California.)

I just wondered as I sat in on a Kent Hovind debate back in early May what all these people who are YEC'ies think their kids are going to do with that sort of sub-standard science education. Major in bible-studies? Very useful. :rolleyes: I suppose there are lots of fields where you can avoid science, but there are issues that involve science that affect us all, and it pains me to think their votes count as much as mine.

[Kvalhion]

Well, I am leaving Minnesota, but not for that reason. :)

I think it's comical that parents think that simply because evolution is taught in school, their kid will know nothing about god when those same parents are probably inundating their kids brain with god-this god-that. So what if evolution is taught in schools? By that time their kids brain has been god-programmed so it won't matter.

Honestly, how many stories have you heard of children becoming atheists because of science in grade school?

Too bad schooling itself seems to have become a joke lately.

[acidphos]

edit: posted to wrong forum

[Albion]

Not only does this creationism-bent (the young-earth type anyway) cause problems with biology, but it's hard to teach an earth science course and have kids object to your millions of years-old framework (as happened to my brother in California.)

Not easy to teach astronomy either. Doesn't leave a lot, really.

[Doubting Didymus]

Originally posted by Albion
Not easy to teach astronomy either. Doesn't leave a lot, really.

Baraminology.

[Albion]

Baraminology.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[RufusAtticus]

Bumpage

[pz]

Originally posted by RufusAtticus
Damn it, pz, what are you rednecks up to? Hey, I'm working on it. I tried to get on the standards committee (fat chance, I know), I've been to a couple of regional meetings, I wrote to Pawlenty and Yecke, and most significantly, I recruited openeyes to join the NCSE's efforts to fight this thing.

What can I say? When a good Yankee state like Minnesota starts sounding exactly like Alabama, you know the whole country has got to be swirling down the drain.

[RufusAtticus]

DI on MN (http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=1607)

However, benchmarks pertaining to neo-Darwinian evolution remain incomplete by failing to address the scientific controversy that exists surrounding the theory. An analysis that has come to be known as the "October 6, 2003 Proposal” addresses the draft’s shortcomings, suggesting improvements that include benchmarks stating “Students will be able to explain the limits of natural selection and random mutation to explain complexity,” and that “Students will be able to explain the controversy surrounding the origin of life.”

IDNET-MN's October 6th "suggestions (http://idnet-mn.org/ScienceStandardsSuggestions.html)

[Gregg]

Originally posted by Wyrdsmyth
Viking fundamentalists? Norse creationism? What is that? Teaching kids that a giant, supernatural cow licked the world out of a chunk of ice? Or the world came from the bones of a giant? How does that go again, exactly? No, no, no, infidel! The frost-giant, Ymir, arose from the melting ice at the meeting point of Niffleheim, land of shadow and icy rivers, and Muspelsheim, land of rivers of fire. When Ymir fell asleep, the winds of Muspelsheim melted him some more, and other giants and the cow Audumbla were conceived. While the giants quenched their thirst at Audumbla's udders, she licked the ice, and eventually revealed the first god, Buri. Buri's grandsons, from a union of giant and god, were the Aesir, Ve, Vili, and Odin. Odin led his brothers against Ymir and killed him, and Ymir's blue blood formed the seas (drowning most of the other giants in this process). Odin then made the land from Ymir's bones, and the trees from his hair. His skull was lifted up on pillars to become the vault of the heavens.

It's basic Norse creation science!

[pz]

Originally posted by Gregg
No, no, no, infidel! The frost-giant, Ymir, arose from the melting ice at the meeting point of Niffleheim, land of shadow and icy rivers, and Muspelsheim, land of rivers of fire. When Ymir fell asleep, the winds of Muspelsheim melted him some more, and other giants and the cow Audumbla were conceived. While the giants quenched their thirst at Audumbla's udders, she licked the ice, and eventually revealed the first god, Buri. Buri's grandsons, from a union of giant and god, were the Aesir, Ve, Vili, and Odin. Odin led his brothers against Ymir and killed him, and Ymir's blue blood formed the seas (drowning most of the other giants in this process). Odin then made the land from Ymir's bones, and the trees from his hair. His skull was lifted up on pillars to become the vault of the heavens.

It's basic Norse creation science! Don't forget that his brains were used to make the clouds.

It's an important guiding scientific principle in the study of neurobiology.

[snoiduspoitus]

Originally posted by pz
Don't forget that his brains were used to make the clouds.

It's an important guiding scientific principle in the study of neurobiology.

If only Darwin had such sarcastic luxury.

[openeyes]

Ah, this thread is revived.

The hearings are over as of this past week I believe.

I finally was able to attend one in a northern suburb. Even though I had been to the school previously, I took a wrong turn getting there and was late. Therefore, I was far down the list of presenters (at least 45 were before me I think.) There was several conservative types, including a creationist who mentioned Hovind and another who gave the old "the wool's been pulled over our eyes in the past; there are so many holes in evolution" argument. Since I had to work later that evening, I was afraid I wouldn't get called up to present in time. I bugged one of the aids to ask pass a note to Yecke to move me up since I had to work (she had told parents with young kids earlier that they could speak if they needed to get home.)

It worked. I think she may have regretted calling me up after I began. Oh well. (I don't think she remembered me from the State Fair, but maybe.) Anyway, the gist of my argument was that parents had the prerogative to discuss with their kids non-evolutionary explanations of biology if they want, but we wouldn't expect that these kids would ever have serious careers in biology. The State shouldn't be an accomplice in limiting the options of other kids by allowing this sort of discussion in science class.

I think it went over pretty well, but since I don't speak before large crowds regularly, I wasn't fully aware of my surroundings. A couple sitting in front of me said it was good. One well-meaning young person tried to hand me a copy of an opinion piece (http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/opinion/7031090.htm) from the St. Paul paper that argued that doubt about evolution was mounting among scientists (I had made some sort of statement to the contrary.)

I had seen this piece earlier and dismissed it. I decided to look up the scientists they mentioned and found them to be a mixed lot. One of them, Salthe, has a confusing web site with a scary picture that didn't exactly support the creationist point of view I didn't think (but the ID'ers could use him?). I doubt if any of the people there holding that opinion piece knew anything about the people mentioned (but someone wrote that it supported their point of view, do that was enough. :banghead: )

[sakrilege]

Originally posted by openeyes
One well-meaning young person tried to hand me a copy of an opinion piece (http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/opinion/7031090.htm) from the St. Paul paper that argued that doubt about evolution was mounting among scientists. Well that trumps all the journals publishing papers that support evolution now doesn't it. :rolleyes: