UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE the number of radio callers advocating teaching "intelligent design" ie. "creationism lite (CL)" in schools. It's not like I live in some backwoods shack here and even if I did Abe Lincoln turned out ok. If nothing else, this administration has succeeded in bringing out religious nutjobs around the globe. And perverting language.
There's all this talk about evolution and CL being alternate 'theories'. How about this: evolution as 'scientific law' and CL as 'random guess'. If time were available I'd say debate the two. Scientific method insists one try to disprove a hypothesis, then theory, and if unable to THEN it becomes law. This was taught in middle school science; perhaps since my days it's been replaced with: "the world is 6,000 years old. Fossils are a lie manufactured by Toys R Us". I don't know. Anyway, for sane people evolution would withstand the CL barrage. An added benefit? These debates would flush out who are the crazies to avoid in the hallways for the rest of the year.
The problem is there's no time during the truncated "American" school year to even teach the current curriculum. And they want to add in this neo-con horseshit? "Screw Shakespeare. Let's discuss how all of humanity is inbred from those 2 original-sinners" (Man is made in god's image? Does that mean god is inbred?! Actually mutations probably can't exist in CL). No thank you. It's not as if the U.S. leads the world in education. If this were the Vespuccian school system I'd say divide up summer vacation and keep the kids in school year-round. This will make their transition to the real-world adult monotony easier to bear. I mean, if you've never eaten a real bagel then Bruegger's won't seem so bad.
I hear Bush's next plan is to force Bruce Springsteen to rename his old song to "Born Again In the USA".
Aug 4, 2005
Scopes Monkey Trial, out the window!
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13 comments:
I'm not a huge science is fact fan. It seems to me that sciences facts are constantly being changed and all the changes are of course facts.
I don't think that religion needs to be taught in school. Unless it's a religious school, tee,hee.
But I'm also against removing all religious references from things just because it offends atheists or non Christians...
I agree with you that education about religions should most definitely be taught in school; just not religious concepts.
By the way, that's supposed to read: truncated "American" school year
I'm gonna change it now. I hate typos.
I think that scientific theories should be taught as theories and religion belongs in Sunday school or at church, not in regular school (unless, it's a religious school, as HB2 brought up).
Perhaps it should be made more obvious in schools, that scientific theories are just theories - and religious mythology should be taught as mythology. Besides, aren't schools supposed to be teaching kids to enquire, rather than to accept dogma of any kind?
I think we should teach our children that the zebra says "girsch" and that God was a mean, drunken, half-blind-from-syphilis curmudgeon who set everything up as a great big joke. Tell the kids that god's a miserable bastard and we're the only thing that cheers him up.
Hell, tell 'em that the world was flat and that's why the ancients believed such. It got wider as the world got older, but it's starting to flatten out again. No matter what happens, the U. S. of A sits smack dab in the middle of the universe and you can kill as many dirty immigrants as you want if you just believe.
I, myself, belive everything all at the same time. If you just open your mind a little the wind kinda whistles as it blows through.
Well...heh...and...heh!
I'm against teaching religious beliefs in school for the simple reason that there are too many options out there and if a kid wants to be religious tey should be able to choose their own path, instead of having one thrust down their throat.
Each and every religion contains something that the others dislike, despite the fact that they are all worshipping the same guy.
glomgold, i'm right there with you. i love these crotchety diatribes of yours. i think i wrote a post on this a while back. i'm with violet on how scientific theories are taught in schools, and with rainypete on the religious beliefs. what the hell does anybody know anyway...we're all just uncertain amblers. of course, instilling vertiginous despair in youngsters may not be wise either.
i thought i commented on your post below. i guess i didn't. your graph and related commentary rock.
I am so tired of this old "argument", especially because I work with people who insist that the Earth is only 6,000 years old, that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time, that women should stay at home, etc. These people are multiplying everywhere!
Not only that, but has anyone stopped to think that Creationism directly contradicts ALL science, not just biology? i.e., physics, geology.... I've had people tell me, with a completely straight face, that ALL modern science is just doubt sown by Satan. Oh, and witchcraft, which is taught in the Harry Potter books, DOES exist. Sheesh.
done ranting.
Maybe the fact we might loose some societal and morilized clout is the reason for this blinded education. If we do not have God than for most with a lower IQ and low attention span there is nothing to hold onto (beliefe wise). We become "Humans" (shutter) and then we discover we really do not know anything and that makes people scared....(shakin). To be lost to be.....nothing....(large dramatic gasp). If only we could teach "the childeren" that humans are a product of nature, evolution, and that hey "I rule my destinany". Would it be so bad? Of course not!
According to the scientific method, a theory needs to be testable. Testing a theory means verifying it using repeatable experiments. Creationism is obviously untestable, so it is not a scientific theory, it is a faith. Evolution is not testable either. Evolution has not been and cannot be verified by a repeatable experiment, and so it is not a scientific theory either. Looking at two sets of fossils and deciding they look similar is not an experiment. Believing in evolution requires as much faith as believing in creation.
anonymous- You are spouting obfuscating nonsense. The scientific method involves steps such as observation of phenomena. The ensuing theories are then applied to see whether they will accurately predict certain behavior. Evolution doesn't simplify down to just "mixing and matching fossil shapes". Molecular observation of mutating bacteria & plants have certainly been documented and support Darwinian concepts.
And if nothing else, at least evolution can be disproven so the term "faith" doesn't apply. Were one to find a 500 million year old kangaroo fossil, that'd pretty much blow the theory up. What'd it take to upend creationism? Disproving god? Could be tough! Thanks for stopping by.
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