Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

chortle

You've got it all wrong em. It makes perfect sense. It isn't my fault if you can't follow it. fm knows what it means and it was him it was directed at.

Pssst, I was as flummoxed as you EM, I was not laughing WITH spendi.
It seems that, when the only guy who understands his runon Brownian movement sentences, is HIM, Why does he believe that its the rest of the world that is of low IQ?

Why does he believe that its the rest of the world that is of low IQ?

I never went near any pharmacy fm. Isn't pharmacy anti-evolution?.....
...I was in the sharp teeth side of the business. Evolution at high speed.

Farmerman just wrote he was just as flummoxed as I was.

fm knows what it means and it was him it was directed at.

I never went near any pharmacy fm. Isn't pharmacy anti-evolution?.....
...I was in the sharp teeth side of the business. Evolution at high speed.

Here it is again--

Quote:

I never went near any pharmacy fm. Isn't pharmacy anti-evolution?.....
...I was in the sharp teeth side of the business. Evolution at high speed.

If you read it slowly and concentrate on stopping your lips moving as you do so it should unravel itself.

Maybe not-- Never mind. It's a good laugh. Don't bother with Tristram Shandy mate. It's way beyond you. As evolution theory evidently is as well.

You're talking to yourself and you don't even know it?

Q. Why not allow creationists to teach their views as science in public schools?

A. It's always a good idea for students to exercise their critical thinking skills. But under the guise of giving students all the information for critical thinking, and letting them come up with conclusions, religion is trying to be slipped into public schools. This is a sham, even for those who think this is valid science. The scientists tell us claims of scientific support for special creation are invalid. So why would we deliberately teach students information that the scientific community says is not accurate?
What we should be doing is having students exercise their critical thinking skills by evaluating issues that are actually in contention: How does speciation take place? Do you need geographic separation, or not? Are neanderthals really ancestral to Homo sapiens? Are dinosaurs cold blooded or warm blooded? Those are real questions in evolutionary biology that scientists are debating.

Q. How does politics enter the picture?

A. If you talk to scientists -- go to Chapman or any other respected university -- you will find evolution taught matter-of-factly. There's no controversy over whether evolution happened. Living things have common ancestors. And it is, in fact, the organizing principle of biology.
Science teachers know they are expected to teach evolution. But because of the social controversy, many times teachers get pushback from parents or students or, most unfortunately, administrators, which is why I refer to this as a political issue.

Q. What is the new approach creationists are using?

A. Every time creationists have tried to get some kind of creationism into the schools they've been smacked down by the courts. The creationism du jour, if you will, is 'Don't mention the 'C' word at all.' Present evolution but then balance it with the teaching of evidence against evolution. Which is really just what they call creationism these days. This is a back-door approach. By not mentioning any form of creationism, it's a way to try to avoid the constitutional challenges that have killed off all the other efforts.

Q. California seems to have few active controversies over evolution in public schools at the moment. Do you see the potential for such problems in Orange County?

A. Let me put it this way. We tend to have the most problems in parts of the country where there's a lot of religious conservatism, and certainly Orange County would qualify.
Problems arise over textbooks, and California schools use the standard, commercially available textbooks. California's scientific education standards are very good for evolution. It's treated properly; it's treated as science.
Texas is what they call an adoption state. In Texas, the board of education approves a list of textbooks for local districts to spend state money on. We want to make sure we are working with allies in Texas so that the topic of evolution is included in a responsible way.

Q. What is the latest controversy over creationism?

A. We're very concerned about a new law passed in Louisiana, which I'll be talking about tonight, which again compromises the teaching of evolution in this back-door creationism fashion.

Q. If people in California and Orange County are not seeing major local controversies over evolution, should they just relax and not worry about it?

A. Decisions about what to teach in the classroom really come about at the local, school board level, and even at the local classroom level. So the teacher who gets a lot of email from parents -- 'You're not really going to teach evolution, are you?' -- is less likely to teach evolution than one who doesn't receive that pressure. It's a real grassroots movement, which if course makes it really difficult to counter. Which is why NCSE works at the grassroots.
I think it would be a mistake to look at the newspaper and say, 'No creationism today. I can relax.' Because the creationist activity that matters is what's happening at local school districts and pressure on local teachers -- which never makes the newspapers.

The creationism du jour, if you will, is 'Don't mention the 'C' word at all.' Present evolution but then balance it with the teaching of evidence against evolution. Which is really just what they call creationism these days. This is a back-door approach. By not mentioning any form of creationism, it's a way to try to avoid the constitutional challenges that have killed off all the other efforts.

A. If you talk to scientists -- go to Chapman or any other respected university -- you will find evolution taught matter-of-factly.

How does speciation take place? Do you need geographic separation, or not? Are neanderthals really ancestral to Homo sapiens? Are dinosaurs cold blooded or warm blooded? Those are real questions in evolutionary biology that scientists are debating.

We want to make sure we are working with allies in Texas so that the topic of evolution is included in a responsible way.

youve been able to almost achieve an upright stance.

Upright walking occurred almost instantaeously

I heard that , lately, youve been able to almost achieve an upright stance. Thatlls sure take a load off yer knuckles.

Youve got it all ass backwards as usual

As a real scientist,

I am curious about what gets yer goat about our concerns for the US public education system.

with a colleague

Obviously then, you still live in the trees of the savannah.