Florida Citizens for Science

I’ve pulled out the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee pre-meeting review of Senate Bill 2692 (the deceptively named “academic freedom” bill) from the looooong meeting packet and uploaded it here for your reading pleasure. (Original document here, scroll to page 155.) If senators bother to actually read the document before the Tuesday morning meeting, it would show how how shaky the bill’s legality is. Some excerpts:

The bill is silent on who determines whether the teacher’s presentation on scientific information meets the definition and is therefore afforded protection under the act. Presumably, the determination would be made by the school district, but this is not stated. Additionally, the definition appears to encompass a wide range of information within the protected presentation by the teacher. The bill suggests that the only requirement is that the information is relevant to the science standards pertaining to evolution, and that the information is presented objectively. Again the bill is silent on who defines the objectivity of the scientific information presented. The administration and the teacher may have different views on the objectiveness of the information presented.

It is unclear under the bill if a student’s performance in a science class will be measured upon his or her own view or position on evolution, or by a consistent standard applied to each student. The ambiguity may create unanticipated problems with student evaluation and grading in science classes.

It should also be noted that, because evolution and countervailing theories are subject to intense controversy, objective presentation of scientific information critical of the theory of evolution may be difficult to achieve in the classroom. If at any point objectivity is abandoned, it is possible that a court could determine that the state is promoting religion in violation of the Establishment Clause.

I’m not too happy with the above paragraph. There are no “countervailing theories”, and the only “intense controversy” is in the general public’s and politicians’ eyes, not among the consensus of the scientific community.

While a student maintains free speech rights, as indicated above, those rights are not without limitation. It appears that this provision in the bill may be interpreted to expand the rights of students in excess of the First Amendment.

A teacher’s statements in class during instructional periods are part of the curriculum and regular class activity and thus subject to reasonable speech regulation.

The above sentence directly addresses the very lie of this “academic freedom” bill.

Here’s a good guest opinion column in the Orlando Sentinel: Free Florida’s students from lagging behind

Some 422,000 Floridians remained out of work in February, the housing market continued its downward spiral, and less than two-fifths — just 37 percent — of all 11th-graders across Florida had mastered science-learning goals as of May 2007. Though K-12 students are improving statewide and locally, too, fewer than four in 10 Orange County 11th-graders, or 36 percent, were hitting their science-learning marks last year.

Yet, despite such serious educational and economic challenges, state lawmakers recently spent time reviewing a veiled proposal to wedge one religious viewpoint into science classrooms, which would weaken science education. By allowing teachers with a religious agenda to recast well-documented scientific facts as questionable, the deceptively named Academic Freedom Act could leave Florida’s K-12 students confused about the nature of science, and hamstring them when it comes to competing for future jobs.

Interesting article in the Palm Beach Post: Gator blood touted as potential source of lifesaving drugs

Researchers in Louisiana say they’ve discovered unique antibiotic proteins in the blood of American alligators that can kill a wide variety of deadly bacteria, halt the spread of common infections and perhaps even stop HIV.

If they’re right and they’re able to sequence the genetics of gator blood, the researchers say superdrugs based on their findings might be available within 10 years.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Lancia Darville, a Louisiana State University researcher who is scheduled to present the findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans this week.

The alligator has developed a special immune system during its long evolution, Darville said.

“If you think about alligators, they usually get into a lot of fights and get cuts and bruises and torn limbs, and they live in swamps that have a whole lot of bacteria,” she said. “But even in the presence of all that bacteria, they (almost) never get any infections.”

The Judiciary Committee’s staff review is here. Our post tracking both the Senate and House bills is here.

The Florida Senate Judiciary committee will consider SB2692, the creationism bill (so-called “academic freedom”):

On Committee agenda– Judiciary, 04/08/08, 10:45 am, 110-S

I’ve been calling the committee members. Have you?