teach1st
08-14-2005, 06:30 AM
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050814/OPINION01/508140307/1035/OPINION
(Opinion)
In Kansas, apes are out. God is in.
The state Board of Education last week approved a draft standard for teaching science that casts a more critical eye on evolution theory. If it's approved, it will be harder for school teachers to teach that people were descended from monkeys.
The draft was written by advocates of "intelligent design," a theory gaining currency among religious Christians since the late 1980s that says evolution alone can't explain life, but an "intelligent creator" [God] can.
Similar changes are slated for school districts in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and laws have been proposed in 20 states, including New York. President Bush has said he supports teaching "intelligent design" along with evolution.
Get ready for replays of the Scopes monkey trial.
It was in 1925 that Tennessee school teacher John Scopes was convicted of violating a state ban on teaching evolution. Later, in 1968, the Supreme Court struck down such bans (Florida and Oklahoma had them too). So religious groups retooled, and some states began requiring schools to teach "creation science" along with evolution.
The court ruled again, in 1982 and 1987, that doing so violated the First Amendment separation of church and state.
Now those groups are back with a new strategy and name. The controversy made the cover of the Aug. 15 Time magazine.
The issue here is simple. Religion, no matter what name it goes by, doesn't belong in public schools. It belongs in church, parochial schools or at home. Public schools are obligated to teach facts, not faith.
Some parents who prefer a religious education have taken responsibility for home-schooling their kids. But a vocal and growing movement, emboldened by the president, wants to impose a religious view on everyone. And in Kansas, a succession of education boards of different political persuasions has turned the science curriculum into a game of ping pong. In 1999, the board removed most references to evolution from its science teaching standards, but a new board the following year restored them. Now this.
Read more (http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050814/OPINION01/508140307/1035/OPINION)
(Opinion)
In Kansas, apes are out. God is in.
The state Board of Education last week approved a draft standard for teaching science that casts a more critical eye on evolution theory. If it's approved, it will be harder for school teachers to teach that people were descended from monkeys.
The draft was written by advocates of "intelligent design," a theory gaining currency among religious Christians since the late 1980s that says evolution alone can't explain life, but an "intelligent creator" [God] can.
Similar changes are slated for school districts in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and laws have been proposed in 20 states, including New York. President Bush has said he supports teaching "intelligent design" along with evolution.
Get ready for replays of the Scopes monkey trial.
It was in 1925 that Tennessee school teacher John Scopes was convicted of violating a state ban on teaching evolution. Later, in 1968, the Supreme Court struck down such bans (Florida and Oklahoma had them too). So religious groups retooled, and some states began requiring schools to teach "creation science" along with evolution.
The court ruled again, in 1982 and 1987, that doing so violated the First Amendment separation of church and state.
Now those groups are back with a new strategy and name. The controversy made the cover of the Aug. 15 Time magazine.
The issue here is simple. Religion, no matter what name it goes by, doesn't belong in public schools. It belongs in church, parochial schools or at home. Public schools are obligated to teach facts, not faith.
Some parents who prefer a religious education have taken responsibility for home-schooling their kids. But a vocal and growing movement, emboldened by the president, wants to impose a religious view on everyone. And in Kansas, a succession of education boards of different political persuasions has turned the science curriculum into a game of ping pong. In 1999, the board removed most references to evolution from its science teaching standards, but a new board the following year restored them. Now this.
Read more (http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050814/OPINION01/508140307/1035/OPINION)