Leave the evolution education controversy behind

Florida State University physics professor Paul Cottle has a guest post over at The Gradebook blog about Senator Wise’s antievolution bill.

Most importantly, Senator Wise’s proposal does not address the concerns that most of Florida’s parents have concerning evolution education: the possibility that a science teacher (or any teacher) could use their privileged place in a child’s world to change that child’s beliefs regarding religion.  This is the primary concern of parents on both sides of the evolution education debate.  Evolution is a flashpoint for this concern, but there are certainly other opportunities in the public school curriculum for a teacher determined to change students’ beliefs to try to do so. 

Hence, Senator Wise and the legislature should remove the language regarding evolution education from SB 2396 and leave the evolution standards alone.  If the legislature wishes to address the issue of religion in public school classrooms, it could send Governor Crist a bill that simply says that Florida’s public schools should be tolerant of students’ religious backgrounds and that no teacher may denigrate a student’s religious beliefs, regardless of the curriculum subject being addressed.  It need not mention the topic of evolution at all.  Fine science teachers already take care to respect students’ religious beliefs while providing instruction in evolution, and such legislation would acknowledge their efforts. 

Go read the rest. Paul did a great job!