the Sugar Conspiracy

Monday, December 06, 2004

Snopes Monkey Trial (revisited)

About 40 states are dealing with some sort of challenge this year to the teaching of evolution at the state level, local level or both, said Glenn Branch, deputy director of the California-based National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit group that defends the teaching of evolution in public schools.

For example, a federal judge in Atlanta is expected to rule soon on a suit filed on behalf of six parents in Cobb County -- Jackson's part of the country -- who objected to a disclaimer the school board affixed to ninth-grade biology textbooks. It says, in part: "Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."

I've been seeing a lot of stories about this lately; major battle lines are being drawn. I learned about evolution in school and creationism in church. It was up to me to reconcile the two and figure out what I believed. Today's creationists don't seem content with that scenario. Instead of kids figuring the world out for themselves, the creationists seem to prefer indocrination of their beliefs. It's almost like the creationists don't trust their ideology enough when it's put up against opposing viewpoints. They don't have faith that kids, making up their own minds, will decide that creationism makes the most sense. Instead, it's the lessons of advertising: repetition, repetition, repetition, in every sphere of life. If you won't believe it, we'll hammer it into your skull until you do.

posted by chris at 9:17 PM
------------------

Blog - Info - Archive - Contact - Links
2005 © Designed by Chris. Take what you want.