First there was the Butler Act of 1925, a law that prohibited the teaching of evolution in classrooms in Tennessee. The Scopes "Monkey" Trial, in which the ACLU challenged the bill, put Tennessee educational policy in the national spotlight. But Tennessee legislators refused to bend to pressure, and the law remained on the books until 1967.
We've come a long way in the past 100 years, but it seems like Tennessee is up to its old anti-science tricks again. In a new twist on an old classic, a modern "monkey bill," which encourages teachers to explore "alternative" explanations for established scientific theories, recently passed in both the Tennessee House and Senate. In a previous video report on Talk Nerdy To Me, I describe this "academic freedom" bill in detail. It is predicated on the false notion that "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" are topics that arouse "debate and disputation" in the scientific community.
In spite of protests by scientific, educational, and civil liberties groups, on April 10, 2012, this "monkey bill" became law. In Tennessee, the governor can choose to either sign or veto any bill that is passed by the state legislature. But apparently, he has a third option. He can do nothing.
And nothing is exactly what Governor Bill Haslam did. He explained:
"I have reviewed the final language of HB 368/SB 893 and assessed the legislation's impact. I have also evaluated the concerns that have been raised by the bill. I do not believe that this legislation changes the scientific standards that are taught in our schools or the curriculum that is used by our teachers. However, I also don't believe that it accomplishes anything that isn't already acceptable in our schools...The bill received strong bipartisan support, passing the House and Senate by a three-to-one margin, but good legislation should bring clarity and not confusion. My concern is that this bill has not met this objective. For that reason, I will not sign the bill but will allow it to become law without my signature."
Seriously? And what are those scientific standards? This law essentially gives teachers carte blanche to discuss whatever crackpot ideas they want (and to be clear, ideas and theories are two very different things in scientific parlance).
Steven Newton, the programs and policy director for the National Center for Science Education, says that for students who are fortunate enough to have good science teachers, the classroom experience will likely be unaffected. The law doesn't require that teachers present "alternative theories" to their students. But, as he points out:
"This new law allows--indeed, encourages--teachers who are already inclined to attack evolution and climate science to do so. Unlucky students may be subjected to creationist or climate-change-denying rants from their teachers. And if students or parents object, the law forbids school boards and administrators from doing anything about it."
Apparently, science teachers across Tennessee are already filling their blackboards with religious propaganda and anti-science rhetoric. I wonder what repercussions a teacher would face if he/she introduced "Pastafarianism" to the classroom. In this "alternative theory," the unseen and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster touched Adam with his "noodly appendage" and is thus responsible for the creation (or "intelligent design") of the universe. This "theory" also posits that over many years, the steady decline in pirates (known to be divine beings) has resulted in global warming.
Obviously, the Flying Spaghetti Monster parody was developed to ridicule the idea that intelligent design be taken seriously in the science classroom. But this new law makes it clear that Tennessee is not in on the joke. In an opinion piece in the Chatanoogan, David D. Fihn, Sr. writes:
"Bill Haslam will single-handedly give credence to the rest of the country's opinion of this southern state. We will be thought of as backward, mouth-breathing, wrongly-educated national parasites...one has only to point to this myopic piece of legislation to vindicate that opinion."
That's no laughing matter. We live in the 21st century, the century of biotechnology. Without an appropriate understanding of evolution, students will be at a disadvantage in the workforce. And without an understanding of anthropogenic climate change, how can we expect Tennessee children to grow up to become members of an informed electorate? And it's not just Tennessee. Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, Alabama, New Mexico, and Louisiana have all seen anti-evolution and climate change denial bills in various stages of the legislative process within the past two years. This is cause for alarm.
Without proper scientific training, a cornerstone of the educational system in every major developed nation, the future for this country does not look very bright.
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Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D.: Creationism's Expansion in Science Education Will Level the Playing Field
Rev. Jim Ball: The New York Times Gets Played By Climate Deniers
Peter M. J. Hess, Ph.D.: Creationism and Monkey Business in Tennessee
Jim Hutchins: Dumb ALEC and Its "Breathtaking Inanity"
This certainly doesn't fly in social studies or english or math. What if I went into a classroom and said "I know you all think the numbers are 0123456789, but just consider that maybe they aren't... What if they didn't exist and math really exists in colors? I believe that blue + blue = orange."
lol
there are no education specialists that think this is a good idea, only creationists. it is no different than republicans that are trying to pass new voting legislation in states that have no known cases of voter fraud.
it's not that hard to figure out if you simply "follow the money".
Sigh.. So sad. The country has been on a decline for years with regards to education. But, come on.. blatantly breeding ignorant children? It has gone way. too. far.
"I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details."
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
Albert Einstein
befaithful is only showing a person’s opinion at the time the person said such. People do change their opinions as every atheist that becomes agnostic or a Christian/a believer does. She is not using the quotation to state some scientific principle/law in a debate.
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"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
-- Albert Einstein
"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."
-- Albert Einstein
"My position concerning God is that of an agnostic."
-- Albert Einstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_religious_views
Albert Einstein once said that as a “lover of freedom, when the (Nazi) revolution came, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks...Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration for it because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly”
This is clearly unconstitutional and will not stand.
- Evolutionism is not a bona-fide scientific theory; it's not based on fact; nobody saw, tested, documented or can reproduce the events of the atheistic fairy tale as the scientific method of inquiry requires. Nobody saw, tested, documented or can reproduce biological evolution from the impossible abiogenesis of the alleged common ancestor of all or its transmutation into all the life forms that ever lived.
- Evolutionism is falsified by all the Data/Evidence that only supports Creation by a superior intelligence/being. These Laws and Principles, and the evidence falsify evolution: First and Second Law of Thermodynamics, Genetic Entropy, Information Science, Law of Biogenesis, Abiogenesis is impossible by mindless and lifeless chemical elements, Mendelian Genetics, Limits of Breeding experiments, Evolution does not make fossils and the fossil record shows only living fossils and Stasis, the Cambrian Explosion of life possibly more than 100 phyla above the lowest layer being the Precambrian without any of the transitional forms/fossils, Uniformitarian Geology does not make the Fossiliferous Sedimentary Layers – therefore- the fossil record is not a chronological record of change over deep time, much evidence shows that Earth is young eliminating the deep time needed by the Fairy Tale.
It's Tennessee. Anyone living in that state is incapable of grasping the intricacies of science as it is. Trying to teach it to them is a waste of time.
Let them wallow in their ignorance. The world needs ditch diggers too.
Evolutionism is falsified by all the Data/Evidence that only supports Creation by a superior intelligence/being. These Laws and Principles, and the evidence falsify evolution: First and Second Law of Thermodynamics, Genetic Entropy, Information Science, Law of Biogenesis, Abiogenesis is impossible by mindless and lifeless chemical elements, Mendelian Genetics, Limits of Breeding experiments, Evolution does not make fossils and the fossil record shows only living fossils and Stasis, the Cambrian Explosion of life possibly more than 100 phyla above the lowest layer being the Precambrian without any of the transitional forms/fossils, Uniformitarian Geology does not make the Fossiliferous Sedimentary Layers – therefore- the fossil record is not a chronological record of change over deep time, much evidence shows that Earth is young eliminating the deep time needed by the Fairy Tale.
The Universe is 13.7 billion years old...the Solar system...and Earth...about 4.6 billion years old. That's not all that young. These are facts...facts attested to by the best minds and science on Earth. They know what they're talking about...you don't...(sigh)