Board to vote on evolution teaching

[Blake]

Web Posted: 1/21/09 11:39 CST

by Gary Scharrer - Express News

AUSTIN — Science and religion collide today when the State Board of Education takes a preliminary vote on curriculum standards that could affect the teaching of evolution in Texas public schools for the next decade.

The argument hinges on a single word: weaknesses.

A panel of science experts has recommended that teachers no longer be required to present the “strengths and weaknesses” of various theories, including evolution.

Instead, the proposed science curriculum standards would encourage students to use critical thinking, scientific reasoning and problem solving to analyze and evaluate scientific explanations.

Some parents and experts insist the “weaknesses” of scientific theory  be taught as a matter of academic freedom, scientific inquiry and a search for truth.

Others contend the “weaknesses” provision simply is a backdoor attempt to legitimize “creationism” or “intelligent design” — a concept that an intelligent being is responsible for the complex structure of biology rather than chance or undirected natural processes.

“Science education that does not encourage students to evaluate competing scientific arguments is not teaching students about the way science actually operates,” said Stephen Meyer, director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Ins ute.

The Seattle-based ins ute opposes evolution and promotes intelligent design.

Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin-based group that supports public education, religious freedom and individual liberties, countered that “strengths and weaknesses are the cultural code words for undermining evolution and promoting creationism.”

Miller said the “strengths and weaknesses” standard is a test balloon for a new political strategy to overcome court rulings banning the teaching of intelligent design in public schools.

A narrow board vote is expected, with social conservatives intent on keeping the existing “strengths and weaknesses” language in the science curriculum standards.

The board didn’t debate the issue Wednesday, but is expected to do so today.

Board member Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, said she’s “waiting for an example of where creation or intelligent design has been forced on teachers.”

San Antonio parent Angela Weissgarber told the board that students should be able to question theories such as evolution, and that the absence of the “weaknesses” provision would chill the learning environment.

“All high school science classes should provide an environment that encourages our students to question and inquire instead of promoting silence and intimidation without fear of retribution or discrimination of any kind,” she said.

David Muralt, an Austin-based civil engineer, told the board there is no factual scientific proof that complex life came from disorder and chance.

“Teaching students that they evolved and are nothing more than animals, degrades their quality of life and robs them of meaning and purpose of life,” Muralt said. “The fruits of this God-denying teaching are lying, cheating, stealing, promiscuity, chemical abuse, suicide, crime of all sorts and a reduction in academic achievement.”

The board’s policy on science curriculum standards will influence new science textbooks and “creation-inspired nonsense” would disadvantage Texas students, Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, told the board.

She predicted publishers would have to produce a Texas edition for science textbooks.

“They will (include) any kind of nonsense that you want in it,” Scott said. “The classroom is no place to fight the cultural wars.”

Ronald Wetherington, Southern Methodist University anthropology professor, told the board that the alleged weaknesses of evolution have been debunked.

He said Texas schoolchildren “will be exposed to false knowledge” by keeping the “strengths and weaknesses” standard in new science books.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...evolution.html

[BacktoBasics]

and there it is. Here is the fundamental problem in all of this.

“Teaching students that they evolved and are nothing more than animals, degrades their quality of life and robs them of meaning and purpose of life,” Muralt said. “The fruits of this God-denying teaching are lying, cheating, stealing, promiscuity, chemical abuse, suicide, crime of all sorts and a reduction in academic achievement.”

Have to have meaning right. Have to have purpose right. Always having to use god as a crutch for our shortcomings rather than to rely on oneself for ones own actions.

[DarkReign]

*yawn*

ID gets KOed in the 1st.

Book it.

[Blake]

*yawn*

ID gets KOed in the 1st.

Book it.

I dunno. I think there are still a few staunch conservatives on this board.

maybe the 3rd.

[peewee's lovechild]

A "Texas Edition" for science textbooks?

Should we also have a "Texas Edition" history textbook where it claims that the Civil War happened because the "North" was jealous of the "South"?

This is just pure stupidity.

[MiamiHeat]

should i begin my rant on how religion needs to be destroyed so humanity can move on and grow?

nah, this crab dinner is delicious.

[Blake]

nah, this crab dinner is delicious.

lemme guess......."Amen-Ra is great, Amen-Ra is good......let us thank him for our food......Amen"

[peewee's lovechild]

should i begin my rant on how religion needs to be destroyed so humanity can move on and grow?

nah, this crab dinner is delicious.

Religion must be abolished if we are to progress as human beings.

[baseline bum]

“Science education that does not encourage students to evaluate competing scientific arguments is not teaching students about the way science actually operates,” said Stephen Meyer, director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Ins ute.

A huge lie. Science education that does not encourage students to evaluate competing hypothesis by rigorous standards and skepticism is not teaching students about the way science actually operates. Unless he wants the curriculum to include rigorous debunking of intelligent design as something non-scientific, ID has no place in biology classrooms.

Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin-based group that supports public education, religious freedom and individual liberties, countered that “strengths and weaknesses are the cultural code words for undermining evolution and promoting creationism.”

Bingo. Paint evolution as speculation and faith to drag it down to the same level.

David Muralt, an Austin-based civil engineer, told the board there is no factual scientific proof that complex life came from disorder and chance.

Unconscionable strawman. Natural selection is a game of dice only when you look at it from a few inches above ground. Look at it from 1000 feet above and it's very ordered; beneficial adaptations win out. Also, order from disorder on our planet is powered by the energy from our sun and from our planet's molten core, so his unconscious application of the 2nd law of thermodynamics is incorrect.

“Teaching students that they evolved and are nothing more than animals, degrades their quality of life and robs them of meaning and purpose of life,” Muralt said.

Another strawman. Non-belief = nihlism? Garbage. I like to hike mountains, go to the beach, meet people, study a math book, have a nice steak, etc. Happiness is a pretty good purpose in life.

“The fruits of this God-denying teaching are lying, cheating, stealing, promiscuity, chemical abuse, suicide, crime of all sorts and a reduction in academic achievement.”

The fruits of rigorous application of the scientific method are having amazing technology at our fingertips. To borrow an argument from physicist Walter Lewin, today we live in an incredible age; for a lousy couple hundred bucks a month we have the equivalent of 100 slaves working like dogs for us 12 hours a day, without any time off.

The board’s policy on science curriculum standards will influence new science textbooks and “creation-inspired nonsense” would disadvantage Texas students, Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, told the board.

If you tell an impressionable child what he's learning is nonsense, he'll buy into it. Everyone likes to complain about how our nation isn't producing great engineers in large numbers like India or China without thinking why that may be; perhaps it's our peoples' indifference to education fueling this.

She predicted publishers would have to produce a Texas edition for science textbooks.

Sadly, this will probably be the case.

[Ginobilly]

A huge lie. Science education that does not encourage students to evaluate competing hypothesis by rigorous standards and skepticism is not teaching students about the way science actually operates. Unless he wants the curriculum to include rigorous debunking of intelligent design as something non-scientific, ID has no place in biology classrooms.



Bingo. Paint evolution as speculation and faith to drag it down to the same level.




Unconscionable strawman. Natural selection is a game of dice only when you look at it from a few inches above ground. Look at it from 1000 feet above and it's very ordered; beneficial adaptations win out. Also, order from disorder on our planet is powered by the energy from our sun and from our planet's molten core, so his unconscious application of the 2nd law of thermodynamics is incorrect.



Another strawman. Non-belief = nihlism? Garbage. I like to hike mountains, go to the beach, meet people, study a math book, have a nice steak, etc. Happiness is a pretty good purpose in life.



The fruits of rigorous application of the scientific method are having amazing technology at our fingertips. To borrow an argument from physicist Walter Lewin, today we live in an incredible age; for a lousy couple hundred bucks a month we have the equivalent of 100 slaves working like dogs for us 12 hours a day, without any time off.



If you tell an impressionable child what he's learning is nonsense, he'll buy into it. Everyone likes to complain about how our nation isn't producing great engineers in large numbers like India or China without thinking why that may be; perhaps it's our peoples' indifference to education fueling this.



Sadly, this will probably be the case.

I wish they would keep them separate, but I think the merger between science and ID is inevitable. When machines become self aware in about 100-200 years , will they say they are here by chance or by the intelligent design of some being? The final breakthrough will be when somebody unites General Relativity and String M/ theory, which in theory will explain physical Reality throughout the cosmos including consciousness.

[MiamiHeat]

I wish they would keep them separate, but I think the merger between science and ID is inevitable. When machines become self aware in about 100-200 years , will they say they are here by chance or by the intelligent design of some being? The final breakthrough will be when somebody unites General Relativity and String M/ theory, which in theory will explain physical Reality throughout the cosmos including consciousness.

you do understand that 'consciousness' is nothing more than electrochemical reactions going off in your brain so that you can help trillions of cells survive and reproduce?

it's not some spiritual supernatural thing going on. plants don't have it because they just wait for the sun to shine on them. they don't have to hunt for it. consciousness is a result of an arms race between multicellular organisms, nothing more.

Your comparison of machines-humans is way off. Life on earth is just a plethora of chemicals mingling and 'fighting' with each other. When you were in junior high and you mixed vinegar with baking soda, did you say the mixture is alive? No, it's a chemical reaction. Cells are the same way at it's basic function. They absorb certain things and keep out certain things. Life on earth is basically one huge complicated uncontrolled science experiment with a wonderful energy source. We are lucky to be here. NASA will hopefully find the evidence needed to prove once and for all, that 'life' is a natural occurrence of the universe when certain chemicals come together in the right conditions.

I don't see how you can chalk all of that up as 'intelligent consciousness'

If you want to worship a God, go ahead and worship the Unconquerable Sun. Without it, there would have never been life on earth. Without an energy source, everything is cold and motionless. Just remember, you will be late to the party because people have known about the Sun's importance for a long time. It's worship has been going on for thousands of years.

[baseline bum]

The idea of consciousness and free will is a much bigger can of worms than is ID vs evolution, and would be better served by it's own thread.

[peewee's lovechild]

I wish they would keep them separate, but I think the merger between science and ID is inevitable. When machines become self aware in about 100-200 years , will they say they are here by chance or by the intelligent design of some being? The final breakthrough will be when somebody unites General Relativity and String M/ theory, which in theory will explain physical Reality throughout the cosmos including consciousness.

Eintstein was working on a theory called "The Theory of Everything" before he died.

It was supposed to explain the randomness of quantum physics, but it was supposed to bring both theories together.

Or, that's the way I understood it anyway.

I could be wrong.

[peewee's lovechild]

even the catholic church itself, which took what 81 years to respond to communism, is staying out of this one

That's because they're all too busy molesting little boys.

[MannyIsGod]

I did some reading on this back when they first had hearings in November. I'm fairly certain the ID people are going to win on this, which is just plain sad but they have a long history of playing politics with this board and they have it in a situation now where it favors them.

Sadly, it also means that not only Texas kids are impacted. Texas is a large market for textbooks, and a lot of what Texas wants in its books gets passed onto other states simply because a publisher isn't going to print too many editions of a book when they can just print one.

[BacktoBasics]

Home schooling is looking better and better

[Einstein's Ghost]

Eintstein was working on a theory called "The Theory of Everything" before he died.

It was supposed to explain the randomness of quantum physics, but it was supposed to bring both theories together.

Or, that's the way I understood it anyway.

I could be wrong.

Eh? Sorry, I was taking a nap.

Yes, I am still working on the Theory of Everything. I've got it all worked out except for why some people think UTSA is the .

[DarkReign]

Eintstein was working on a theory called "The Theory of Everything" before he died.

It was supposed to explain the randomness of quantum physics, but it was supposed to bring both theories together.

Or, that's the way I understood it anyway.

I could be wrong.

Einstein's idea evolved since his passing. One of his foibles when trying to reach for a theory of everything was his stubborness. For as brilliant as Enstein was, he didnt take criticism or opposing views very kindly. IIRC, didnt he despise quantam mechanics because his theories about gravity and space-time were non-applicable to the "super-micro" world? Something like that, dont quote me.

M-Theory

...or if you prefer its earlier incarnation, or "sister" theory...

Superstring Theory

More or less, all of these competing ideas can be classified under the broad le GUTs (Grand Unifying Theories).

None are remotely close, so take them for what they are....still, very interesting and gets extremely talented people thinking waaaay outside the box. Never a bad thing.

[FreeMason]

and there it is. Here is the fundamental problem in all of this.



Have to have meaning right. Have to have purpose right. Always having to use god as a crutch for our shortcomings rather than to rely on oneself for ones own actions.

It works both ways. Some people use God to believe in a higher meaning, therefore living better lives.

There is nothing wrong with that.

American courts are a joke in cases like these. The outcome for cases can already be known just by looking at the judge's political leanings.

[peewee's lovechild]

I did some reading on this back when they first had hearings in November. I'm fairly certain the ID people are going to win on this, which is just plain sad but they have a long history of playing politics with this board and they have it in a situation now where it favors them.

Sadly, it also means that not only Texas kids are impacted. Texas is a large market for textbooks, and a lot of what Texas wants in its books gets passed onto other states simply because a publisher isn't going to print too many editions of a book when they can just print one.

Publisher actually do print specal editions for Texas.

I would get bombarded with samples every year when I was teaching. The school I was working at had "Texas Edition" texts for Math, English, and Reading. I guess they're going to have "Texas Edition" texts for Science as well.

[peewee's lovechild]

Eh? Sorry, I was taking a nap.

Yes, I am still working on the Theory of Everything. I've got it all worked out except for why some people think UTSA is the .

[Ginobilly]

you do understand that 'consciousness' is nothing more than electrochemical reactions going off in your brain so that you can help trillions of cells survive and reproduce?

it's not some spiritual supernatural thing going on. plants don't have it because they just wait for the sun to shine on them. they don't have to hunt for it. consciousness is a result of an arms race between multicellular organisms, nothing more.

Your comparison of machines-humans is way off. Life on earth is just a plethora of chemicals mingling and 'fighting' with each other. When you were in junior high and you mixed vinegar with baking soda, did you say the mixture is alive? No, it's a chemical reaction. Cells are the same way at it's basic function. They absorb certain things and keep out certain things. Life on earth is basically one huge complicated uncontrolled science experiment with a wonderful energy source. We are lucky to be here. NASA will hopefully find the evidence needed to prove once and for all, that 'life' is a natural occurrence of the universe when certain chemicals come together in the right conditions.

I don't see how you can chalk all of that up as 'intelligent consciousness'

If you want to worship a God, go ahead and worship the Unconquerable Sun. Without it, there would have never been life on earth. Without an energy source, everything is cold and motionless. Just remember, you will be late to the party because people have known about the Sun's importance for a long time. It's worship has been going on for thousands of years.

I don't worship a God, but what do worship is the sense of self righteousness and truth. Yes, I agree with everything you say about chemicals aligning in the right conditions, thus creating life and consciousness. But you have you problem, you need a composer to compose the harmonic song that is life. In my gut feeling: God= Mother nature/Sun/Governor of the laws of physics which allows for our existence. Let put it this way, we are the intelligent design of Atoms. This is not some uncontrolled science experiment, our atoms know exactly what they are doing and I'm perfectly fine with that. Some nights when I look up in the dark sky, I thank mother nature for letting me play in this Arena that is Space time.

[FreeMason]

Damn MiamiHeat, you take the fun out of life.

[peewee's lovechild]

But you have you problem, you need a composer to compose the harmonic song that is life.

What?

[johnsmith.]

I am very curious to know when, or if at all MaimiHeat has ever had sex with actual female. because that goes against everything he preaches.

After all what woman or girl you know is going to give up her body to a person that never says I love you? What woman wold marry a man that has no idea what love means or is incapable of showing it?

That means two things are taking place here, MiamiHeat lives alone in a trailer somewhere jerking off to images he downloads off the www, or else he has a girlfriend who was born without any ears, and is blind so he can just her at will without her ever asking "MiamiHeat don't you love me?"

Because after all MiamiHeat can never tell his Mother,Father ,or anyone else he loves them beacuse that would show he has human emotions that don't mesh with his belief's that we are all just protons atoms and space debris, Only someone who has an understanding of life and why we are here can really love and that would go against his teachings, so in closing....

have fun tonight MiamiHeat jerking off to some images of pixels and kbs on your monitor tonight and remember, it's not sperm your shooting but Elmer's Glue, a product made in a laboratory.