My God! For a moment yesterday I thought the world as we know it was coming to an end. There was a time it appeared that Glenn Beck had joined forces with the proponents of high quality science education and was promoting the teaching of evolution in high schools. Even more surprising, it appeared that he had taken a principled stand against Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's promotion of state support for religious education.
But then all became clear. The Earth was back on its regular axis and the narrow-minded Beck was again ranting about the trivial.
How could I have been so confused? Very simply actually. After all, I noticed that Beck was quoted as saying, "It's horrifying some of the things that they're teaching high schoolers," within minutes of my having read a frightening report about the text books to be used in sectarian schools supported by state funds in Louisiana.
The story begins with Jindal's support for legislation passed in Louisiana that creates the largest school voucher program in the United States. In fact, over half of Louisiana's school age children are likely to be eligible for the vouchers. Additionally, for every student migrating to a private school, the state will defund the public school system by the average cost of instruction as well as the cost of the voucher. Public school funding in Louisiana is likely to be decimated within two years. But it gets worse.
There are virtually no controls on the curriculum to be offered by the private schools to be supported by vouchers. The vast majority of them are religiously affiliated -- and most seem to lack any standards at all. As a recent report in Reuters points out, the list of private schools approved by the state to receive vouchers is broad but most vouchers will be used by schools looking to make a financial killing while promoting a fundamentalist agenda.
That list includes some of the most prestigious schools in the state, which offer a rich menu of advanced placement courses, college-style seminars and lush grounds. The top schools, however, have just a handful of slots open. The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, for instance, has said it will accept just four voucher students, all kindergartners. As elsewhere, they will be picked in a lottery.Far more openings are available at smaller, less prestigious religious schools, including some that are just a few years old and others that have struggled to attract tuition-paying students.
The school willing to accept the most voucher students -- 314 -- is New Living Word in Ruston, which has a top-ranked basketball team but no library. Students spend most of the day watching TVs in bare-bones classrooms. Each lesson consists of an instructional DVD that intersperses Biblical verses with subjects such as chemistry or composition.
The Upperroom Bible Church Academy in New Orleans, a bunker-like building with no windows or playground, also has plenty of slots open. It seeks to bring in 214 voucher students, worth up to $1.8 million in state funding.
At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains "what God made" on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution.
Unbelievably, it gets even worse! As Bruce Wilson discusses, many of these schools use a science curriculum based on materials produced by A Beka Book, Bob Jones University Press and Accelerated Christian Education.
These materials teach, among many other things, that the second law of thermodynamics disproves evolution (something that even the most ardent creationists now recognize is ridiculous), that humans and dinosaurs coexisted and that the Loch Ness Monster has been determined to be a dinosaur currently living in Scotland.
Take a look at the following video to see even more bizarre claims made by these fundamentalist purveyors of educational claptrap.
Examples from A Beka Book and Bob Jones University Press Curricula from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo.
As Glenn Beck noted, "It's horrifying some of the things that they're teaching high schoolers." Sadly, though, he wasn't concerned about any of this. No, he was referring to the television show "Glee."
Follow Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mzclergyletter
when I was a kid...I was taught...by the most trustworthy sources that I knew.....my parents...that babies came from storks....that there was a tooth fairy and santa clause and a guy named stranger danger that was out to get me..
but anyone who has any children know...is that you can teach them ANYTHING...creationism/evolution....and it all goes out the window when they hit the teens and they reject everything,rebel and find their own legs.
the biggest proof......is atheists own words. so many....say "I was religious till I reached the age of reason" and so many atheists say they were raised going to church by religious parents.
brainwashing is sci-fi nonsense. its everybit....propaganda... that they claim the religious use.
if people dont agree with atheists about God, the they are brainwashed. if they agree they are free thinkers. its all so silly.
Regardless, if the school is conservative or very liberal children are rewarded based on their regurgitation of the knowledge presented. Very few schools academically choose to merit students who "think" for themselves. And, to a large extent it doesn't even happen in the universities.
Most children, actually, learn to think for themselves away from school. Those with excellent home environments usually learn that skill at home. Those who are in bad homes or no home environments learn to think based upon the situation at hand.
The concept that every child should go to college is nonsense. Yes, every child deserves the opportunity to go to college. But, a higher education is not the panacea for all of mankind. And, making broad statements that an imaginary group of fundamentals want to control every aspect of everyone's life show a true lack of education on your part.
I don't know what you do for a living, but how often does "abiogenesis" or "gene mutation" find a relevant place in your daily job skills? And, did your background knowledge of "evolution" even come up in your job interview? And, if your knowledge of evolution is not cutting-edge current are you going to be passed over at work for a promotion?
Although, I have degrees in Religion, Philosophy, Humanities, and Chemistry I never quiz a potential employee, for any of the businesses I own, about their religion or extensive knowledge of evolution.
There are religions which respect free will and don't enter into politics. Should they have tax deferred status equal to the religions which meddle in politics? Should religions which meddle in politics and affairs of government have any tax deferred status?
There's a lot of time wasted in schools across the U.S. teaching children facts and information that they will never use in the course of their lifetimes. There are many educators who know that only some of their students will actually benefit from the knowledge their taught.
I know many people will argue that we need a general public well educated. And, I don't argue that it is beneficial. Yet, there's thousands of high school students who would be better educated if knew how to balance their checkbooks.
Therefore, what the majority of students need is a practical education which will equip them to make a living out in the "real" world.
However if you enjoy plagues, like the 1918 flu or perhaps SARS, and feel that they are good because they hint at the power of your god then exterminating evolution should certainly render us in a poor position to develop vaccines in the event that SARS mutates into an even more contagious and dangerous form (which of course it wouldn’t seeing as genetic mutation would by then have become nonsense and probably made illegal by divine command as a token of appreciation for our turning away from such sinful attempts at self-preservation through blasphemous manipulations of genetics by selection)
And you're correct, it’s perfectly possible to breed cattle without a deep understanding of what you are doing, of course if you want a first at the county fair for your prized ‘curly jim’ (if I had a big Aberdeen Angus that’s what I’d call him) then those with the advantage of understanding genetics and evolution might steal all of the prizes, and don’t get me started on what tomato breeders are doing.
Mix it all up and see what comes out, that’s what I say.
Best to level the playing field now by ridding ourselves of this knowledge so that we are all equally disadvantaged.
You go on a long rant or maybe "diatribe" would be a more satisfactory word. Wherein, you're performing a misunderstanding of what I wrote. I wrote none of those things which you posted, not did I even suggest such an ignorant approach. You're in such a hurry to project what you think is an intelligent reply that you just don't think about what I said.
There are many students in classrooms all across the world who simply do not benefit from theoretical teachings. There are many students who will never be scientists, medical doctors, lawyers, or professionals in any fields. If an authority figure, (i.e., a teachers), tells them that the world is "flat" that is as far as their knowledge develops without question. There are other students, which are brilliant, and have a true hunger for all knowledge, (i.e., theoretical or applied), and excel.
However, those students which have the capacity to learn knowledge that they will use in later life are few and far between. Schools have made attempts at separating students based on aptitude, talents, and grades from the run of the mill student who is there because both mom and dad need a babysitter while they work.
If "husbandry" is your thing...then, go for it. I figure you have, maybe, approximately a year or so under your belt from a jr. or community college. Remember, "pie are round not square"...Jethro.
The economic demand for STEM qualified individuals is higher than ever. Calculus, biology, definitely statistics, computer science, and engineering education are absolutely 'practical education'. Lest we forget that the average American is totally helpless in understanding the inner workings of their own home, environment, and belongings; the best way to educate people is not to give them a second rate, or a limited 'practical' education, but rather to expose students the the best knowledge that we have to-date. People need the chance to acquire the requisite skills to move beyond cashier and contribute to a high-tech society...if they so desire.
As much of the discussion here focuses on educational integrity why not consider the personal front-end of evolution: you - body and mind were laid out by DNA (and thus you were very lucky to be alive). Evolution is an implicate statement of this relation and this relation is getting officially tested now. Here is a recent insider's take (with spin) on the associated "missing heritability" problem,
www.gnxp.com/wp/2012/02/07/ive-got-your-missing-heritability-right-here
Why didn't scientists see this coming beginning with the enormous inexplicable differences between monozygotic twins?.
How many biology textbooks or teachers are willing to acknowledge the significance of this problem and beyond it - in particular in the behavioral realm - that there are a number of mysteries (transgender, prodigies, children's innate soul/gods understanding, etc.) that do not make evolved-bio-robotic sense? If science had carefully stated its case including the mysteries then perhaps even fundamentalists would have been comfortable with the vision. 'Ok, science has a pretty good understanding of the default or shell aspects of life but beyond that there are basic mysteries where our religious understanding might apply.' Science could have bound their case and thus perhaps encouraged the religious to do the same. [Word limit is too low].
The essential premise of genetics - excepting the generic-species stuff and a few particular conditions - is now in question and had problems all along (beginning with monozygotic twins). Is it even possible for biologists to acknowledge this?
As a relevant example the book "Born Believers" is written by a scientist who happens to be Christian (Justin Barrett). What is stunning is that after revealing the souls/gods/religious understandings that appear to be innate in young children (including atheists' kids) he cannot even acknowledge the mystery of it all. It has to be a delusion beget via evolutionary fallout apparently inscribed in DNA. Case closed. As a scientist what else could he write?
There's the crux of your misunderstanding. Why would their be mysteries in a science text? Science is about the organization of facts and observations as they relate to theories, and it is no surprise that there are many, many, many questions science has yet to firmly address. It tells us what we currently know, though, and leaves no room for fundamentalists anyways.
As for your comments about twins and behavioral study, wtf?
http://www.pnas.org/content/102/30/10604.full.pdf+html
http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/a0018413
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology
No the crux or driver of science is the mysteries. This was made explicit in the recent book, "Ignorance, How It Drives Science" by Stuart Firestein. More generally, anyone who has done significant problem solving knows this.
The points I allude to are not subtle (or novel) and appropriate contacts have been made to skeptics and scientists. I also sent along my introductory essay on this.
Have even begun to think about epigenetics and the problems that face it and thus the limited science-backing it has? On the surface it doesn't handle inheritance (recently discussed in a Sci Am article) and where are the environmental correlates? What environmental differentiation would divide identical twins on sexual orientation for example so that gay concurrence is only 20 to 30%? The majority cause in much of behavioral genetics is a mystery entitled "other or unique environment" and the presumed cause - DNA - is unidentified.
Your cavalier response reminds me of the follow-up to an NYT genome article by Steven Pinker. In it he acknowledged the mysteries (and many of his assumed un-mysteries are now looking like mysteries) confronting science on individuality. From comment-land came these clever-niks writing 'He is only a psychologist and doesn't know about epigenetics!'. They probably had seen NOVA's sci-fi show on epigenetics, "Ghost in your genes".
The recent Citizens United and Montana decisions were in many ways the chickens coming home to roost. Our US can only be saved with an unlikely Amendment from winding down and failure from the distortions of crony capitalism bought in Washington including Too Big To Fail. The price of including the core Confederate states gets higher and higher. With that Amendment they could be tolerated. Without it we need to split them off as a Caribbean Banana Republic including Texas.
This right here is the key quote:
"You'd be better off telling everyone aliens from mars showed up in the precambrian and graced earth with life."
Well you believe that an omnipotent being created everything in 6 days and graced earth with life.
Tell me which one is harder to believe?
As a teenager in high school (we discussed evolution in my homeschool) I stopped believing in evolution because of the following (not a complete list.)
The growing list of "living fossils" you can find them on wikipedia. Animals and plants that have survived for 100's of millions of years completely unchanged. Identical to their modern day counterparts.
They continually find fossils out of their time. For example in a huge slab of rock in south america they find pollen. The rock is carbon dated to 1.8 billion years. That's precambrian. Only bacteria lived then. Flowers (and hence pollen) didn't evolve until 1.3 billion years later.
And which evolutionary path should we teach kids?
The famous professor who says dinosaurs evolved from birds or the other way around? What do we do with the fact that we find modern day pelicans, alligator snapping turtles, crocodiles, and more in dinosaur, and earlier, era rock. There are so many problems with evolution it shouldn't be taught as a science. Seriously people cling to it like it's some kind of anti-religion. Look at the SCIENCE there are too many problems with it to be taken seriously.
That is, of course, Zimmerman's worry, that people with no background in science will decide themselves to be scientific experts and decide that actual science does not fit with their ntoion of common sense.
Actually Evolution is less far from our notions of common sense than either relativity or quantum mechanics. The big difference is that there is not the incentive to create big money groups to push anti-quantum mechanics propaganda.