Louisiana Puts Creationism in the Schools
Posted on June 12, 2008
Filed Under Politics, Religion, Science |
Louisiana appears to have passed a law teaching Creationism in school.
A proposal that would let science teachers change how they teach topics like evolution, cloning and global warming in public schools was overwhelmingly approved Wednesday by the Louisiana House.
The bill by Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, would let teachers supplement school science textbooks with other materials. The House voted 94-3 for the measure.
The Senate already has agreed to the bill, but it heads back to that chamber for approval of a provision that would allow the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to prohibit supplemental materials it deems inappropriate. Nevers said he will ask the Senate to approve the amendment. He stressed that the amendment does not require BESE to review all the materials. The state board would only step in if someone raised a question about whether the material was appropriate.
Supporters say the bill — titled the “Louisiana Science Education Act” — is designed to promote critical thinking, strengthen education and help teachers who are confused about what’s acceptable for science classes.
I’ll lay a wager that this goes to court and then gets judged unconstitutional. It’s not clear to me why folks keep putting laws like this up when they keep getting struck down.
One thing is for sure. There go the Governor’s hopes for being VP for McCain. (He was actually being highly spoken of last week) Not that I think McCain has much of a hope this fall. He’s only one step up from Dole in electability (IMO).
Note: Here’s an overview of a lot of the reaction from ScienceBlogs.
Comments
Wow that’s amazingly scary that folks see ID of all things as too close to Darwinism.
Fortunately there’s no way in heck it will ever be allowed by the courts. What’s horrible is that despite the legal issues there’s a lot of evidence teachers are afraid to teach the science because of all the social pressure.
I don’t think there’s actually a legal basis to strike down this law: all it does is modify the review requirements for use of supplementary materials in the classroom. Instead of requiring that supplementary materials (of any kind) be reviewed first, it allows teachers to use them first, with the school board reviewing it after the fact. At least, that’s what it seems to say. It’s pretty clear that it’s aimed at evolution, global warming, and the like, because it explicitly mentions them; but the only change it makes is a purely procedural one in how classroom materials are reviewed. That makes it tricky to strike down. I suppose we’ll see.
People are really still fighting over this? Really?
That might be true Brandon and I’ve learned never to completely guess how courts will rule. However given that the “outside materials” seem to be primarily targeting religious materials I’d be very surprised if it were upheld. Put an other way despite the literalist language the courts appear to judge meaning by including context. (Somewhat ironic given the evolution debate)
I think you meant to write, “The House voted 94-3…to launch state school boards into expensive legal battles they are doomed to lose.”
I can see what Brandon is saying and it seems right: there is nothing explicitly religious in this bill. It’ll still go to court, though, because some teacher is going to teach religion, someone will complain, the school board will drag their feet on a ruling, and the plaintiff will sue. Also, one wonders why the legislature only wants to foster critical thinking in science class and not all subjects (well, not really, we all know why).
What I found extremely short-sided is this part:
“Supporters say the bill is designed to promote critical thinking, strengthen education and help teachers who are confused about what’s acceptable for science classes.”
If some teachers are “confused about what’s acceptable,” then why on earth would you want them bringing in their own material?!?!
P.S. Your comment editing feature is sooooooo cool!
I should add that I lived in Louisiana for a while. The schools are an atrocious mess outside of a magnet school here or there. To say they are bad is to understate just how bad they are. It’s one of those places where even if you think all home schoolers are freaks trying to avoid teaching science you’d start home schooling because you know that’s the only way your kids will learn much of anything. Yeah. It’s that bad.
Reason #279 why there shouldn’t be such a thing as a ‘public’ school.
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