* Extremists on the State Board of Education undermine science education, call evolution a lie and claim separation of church and state is a myth.
* They appoint unqualified political activists to help rewrite history and twist the curriculum in our children's classrooms to promote political agendas.
* They want public schools to censor authors, important historical figures and ideas that don’t fit into their own narrow worldview.
To prepare our kids for the 21st century, I insist that:
* Politicians stop dragging our children’s schools into the “culture wars”
* Decisions about what students learn are based on sound scholarship and the work of real experts in every subject
* Classroom teachers and professors in our state’s world-class colleges and universities – not politicians promoting personal agendas – guide the adoption of curriculum standards and textbooks
Our kids deserve better. Our future depends on it.
Sign the petition here.
5 comments:
I absolutely agree that science should be taught accurately. Theories such as the THEORY OF EVOLUTION should not be taught as absolute fact but as the theory that it is. The theory of Intelligent Design should also be mentioned... as a THEORY.
Politics and personal agendas should not be entertained in text books.
There should not be advocacy in class for any religion, however, where religion played a part in historical events it should be discussed dispassionately, accurately, and without agenda.
Attention to political correctness and diversity issues in textbooks is foolish and counter-productive. Facts and the truth should be the necessary requirements for all text books.
Intelligent design is a made up term by the religious right in a bogus attempt to shove their religion down the throats of everyone. Creationism has no place in science, because it is not science. It is religion. It is not based on scientific discovery or experimentation, it is based on faith. School children should not be force fed religion in place of science.
In Texas, they are not teaching that evolution is a theory, but that it is a lie. They are also teaching that the separation of church and state is also a lie. This is more re-writing of history and fact to suit a very narrow, right-wing religious agenda.
We, as a country, are falling behind the rest of the world in science, math, history, and pretty much everything because of these radical agenda-driven whackos who won't stop their crusade until the US is a theocratic nation. This is most definitely NOT what the Founding Fathers envisioned. In fact, I bet they are rolling in their graves over what the right has been trying to do for the last few decades.
The American people are sick and tired of having a narrow, ideological, religiously extreme agenda being force-fed to them by the religious right. Even the Republican party is distancing itself from this crowd. About time.
Dave, there is a heck of a lot of science in the obvious intelligent design of everything from amino acids to proteins to the differentiation of species.
The fact that our sun is 93 million miles from earth instead of 92 million (too hot for most life) or 94 million (too cold) even speaks to a a design.
There are astronmically ridiculous amounts of examples about the design and formation of life to think that this all just didn't happen by coincidence or perhaps by lightning providing the spark to some primordial ooze. Believing that takes far more faith then believing in the science of an intelligent creator.
Futher macro-evolution has so many holes in it that the theory has seriously been compromised. Ever find the myriads of transitional species fossils that must have existed yet, Dave?
As for religion, it should be taught as being a reason where appropriate for decisions and events that occured in history. Advocating a particular religion in public school is not something that should be done. Not acknowledging our Christian heritage as a nation is also not learning our history, Dave.
I don't want to debate religion with you or anyone else, for that matter. I am okay with people believing what they want to believe. But I disagree that creationism has any science connected to it. It doesn't have to. Like I said, you believe - absence of proof - based on faith. In order for something to be taught as science, there should be some methodology used, not simply that it "speaks to" something.
I don't personally see how the teaching of evolution is somehow anti-religion. I just don't. But to teach that it is a "lie" is propaganda by the religious right.
I don't have a problem teaching evolution as a theory. Like I said though, there are HUGE holes in the macro-evolution theory. I definitely will buy the micro-evolution theory of survival of the fittest and adaptation of singular species though, as their is a scientific basis in fact there.
Years ago, due to personal tragedy, I doubted God and started on a decade long journey of trying to scientifically "prove" that His existence was just based on superstitions.
What I found out, the more I researched, the more I found far brighter people than I will ever be, even going WAY back in history, have made a incredibly compelling and very convincing case based on SCIENCE that their is indeed an intelligence to the design of life and the universe. I choose to believe that is God.
People obviously are free to believe or not, but the fact is that there is a heck of a lot more science to support intelligent design as a theory then there now is of credible evidence supporting macro-evolution.
Believe what you will though. Both theories seem reasonable to be taught as THEORIES in a science class, in my opinion.
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