"Rev Dr" Lenny Flank
Posts: 2560
Joined: Feb. 2005
|
>>ID is dead at a political level, but on a cultural level it is not.
Well heck, a far higher proportion of the US population believes in ESP and alien abductions than believes in creationism. (shrug) But as long as they have no political power to enforce their nuttiness onto others, it remains pretty much harmless.
If being stupid were a crime, most of the US would be in jail.
As for creationists, they can preach their crap in church every Sunday from now until Jesus comes back, and I couldn't care less. But if they try again to use political power to force their crap into public schools, I will fight them with every weapon at my disposal.
>> My father, (a now retired biology teacher) had to constantly deal with parents who felt justified to cause all sorts of havoc on him and his school because they read some creationist/ID misinformation.
About once a month or so, I get emails through my website from teachers who ask me "I have creationist students/parents pestering me -- what should I do?" My advice is always the same --- call them into your office, sit them down, look them straight in the eye, and tell them that it is illegal to teach creationism, or to water down the teaching of evolution out of deference to their religious opinions. Illegal. Against the law. Period. Full stop. End of discussion. Then hand them a complete copy of the Maclean, Aguillard and Kitzmiller decisions. And if they still want to gripe, then hand them the phone number of a local lawyer and invite them to take up the matter with the Supreme Court if they want. Then show them the door.
Repeat as necessary.
And if the local administrators object to that, then use that local lawyer's number and call him yourself, then sue the bastards.
>> Public schools all over the US are purposely bipassing teaching evolution and even old earth geology in an attempt to make the school year go more smoothly.
That is OUR fault, collectively, for not sueing the crap out of them. It is illegal to either teach creationism, or to water down or remove evolution in deference to people's religious opinions. And if they are getting away with it, it's OUR fault for not stopping them. The law is on our side. All we have to do is use it.
>Science education is suffering bigtime.
ALL American education is suffering bigtime. That's why most Americans still think Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, why most Americans can't name more than one or two of the rights listed in the Bill of Rights, and why many Americans can't even find the United States on a world map.
We are a nation of uneducated uninformed pig-ignorant buffoons. Why the heck the rest of the world trusts us with weapons of mass destruction, I have no idea at all.
But then, our education system isn't designed to actually EDUCATE anybody. It's purpose is to keep producing enough minimum-wage service-sector employees to keep our economy from utterly collapsing. Despite all our high-sounding talk, as a society, our actions demonstrate that we're not really interested in producing people who can make informed thoughtful decisions (and we're CERTAINLY not interested in PAYING for it). We're only interested in producing the next generation of cheeseburger-flippers.
To change that will mean making political, social and economic changes that we, as a society, simply don't want to make.
So it won't change. (shrug)
--------------
Editor, Red and Black Publishers
www.RedandBlackPublishers.com
|
(not sure which smiley to put here) 
