{"id":2004,"date":"2014-02-04T09:10:15","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T13:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2014-06-22T17:08:24","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T21:08:24","slug":"im-not-trying-to-get-religion-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2004","title":{"rendered":"“I’m not trying to get religion in schools”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orlando Sentinel columnist Beth Kassab takes a firm stance for science education and against creationism in today’s piece: Why are we still debating evolution in education?<\/a> Florida Citizens for Science gets a mention at the end!<\/p>\n

I called [new Florida Board of Education member Andy] Tuck to find out where he stood.<\/p>\n

“I’m not an evangelical right-winger,” he told me. “I’m not trying to get religion in schools.”<\/p>\n

Pheeww.<\/p>\n

Because Florida wasted enough time six years ago debating and then watering down its first-ever standard for teaching evolution.<\/p>\n

That’s like debating the law of gravity or whether the Earth orbits the sun.<\/p>\n

There’s irrefutable evidence that evolution is the underlying biology behind how living things develop over time.<\/p>\n

Tuck, a citrus grower, says he agrees.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That seems like a good answer from Tuck. But keep in mind that the creationist tactic (I’m not calling Tuck a creationist, but rather referring to the general tactic used by today’s creationists) is to find some way to cast doubt on evolution in the classroom. Decades of legal losses whenever creationists have tried to outlaw evolution instruction or insert blatant creationism into the curriculum have forced them to clean up their overtly religious language. Now they want to allow teachers to spend time on “other theories” while declining to be more specific about those other theories that teachers might bring up are. They want to force a bogus disclaimer into evolution lessons that there are “strengths and weaknesses” to the theory. These are the kinds of moves Florida Citizens for Science faced in 2008 when a Board of Education member and then some lawmakers in the state legislature tried tinkering with the state science standards.\u00c2\u00a0 So, we can’t feel safe and comfortable when someone says “I’m not trying to get religion in schools.” We heard that over and over again in 2008. Look at what else they say. Such as this:<\/p>\n

Tuck said his problem is that scientists can’t say for certain how the universe began.<\/p>\n

“I guess the thing I struggle with is you’re teaching evolution to fifth-graders and you get done and one says, ‘Where did it start?'” he said. “And you say what?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We still need to be vigilant. As Beth points out, our state science standards will be reviewed\/revised sometime soon. Let’s hope for the best but plan for the worst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orlando Sentinel columnist Beth Kassab takes a firm stance for science education and against creationism in today’s piece: Why are we still debating evolution in education? Florida Citizens for Science gets a mention at the end! I called [new Florida … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-wk","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3494,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3494","url_meta":{"origin":2004,"position":0},"title":"New Florida Board of Education Chair: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t support any evolution being taught as fact at all in any of our schools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida has a new Board of Education chairman: Andy Tuck. When the state science standards were rewritten in 2008, Tuck was vice chairman of the Highlands County school board. Several school boards passed resolutions opposing the inclusion of evolution in the new standards. Highlands seriously considered a resolution but eventually\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 75 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 75 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3494#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/theorywere.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2023,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2023","url_meta":{"origin":2004,"position":1},"title":"Folks worried about Tuck","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Two letters to the editor were printed in today's Daytona Beach News Journal about the appointment of Andy Tuck to the Florida Board of Education. First one: Religion, not science Should Gov. Rick Scott\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appointment of Andy Tuck, who so virulently opposes the teaching of evolution in our state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s schools,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3506,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3506","url_meta":{"origin":2004,"position":2},"title":"Florida Evolution vs. Creationism Timeline","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The need to defend science education in Florida is truly never ending. I chronicled the many skirmishes, battles and wars fought over the teaching of evolution in my book Going Ape: Florida's Battles over Evolution in the Classroom. The Florida anti-evolution efforts I wrote about started in the 1920s and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":567,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=567","url_meta":{"origin":2004,"position":3},"title":"Early news reports","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Accounts of the House vote are already hitting the news: Palm Beach Post: Florida House approves evolution bill Gov. Charlie Crist dropped in on the House press gallery during the two-hour debate this morning and showed little enthusiasm for the bill, which opponents argue would open a backdoor for creationism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":873,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=873","url_meta":{"origin":2004,"position":4},"title":"What’s happening in Texas","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of Florida newspapers ran stories this morning about the fight over evolution instruction in Texas. Sarasota Herald: In Texas, a Line in the Curriculum Revives Evolution Debate Many biologists and teachers said they feared that the board would force textbook publishers to include what skeptics see as weaknesses\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":408,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=408","url_meta":{"origin":2004,"position":5},"title":"Heads-up: Anti-evolution heads south to Highlands County","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tampa Tribune (Highlands Today) reports that Highlands County school board members need to learn their science. This is the first county that's not in north Florida to have this discussion. They haven't done a resolution yet, but they want to: SEBRING \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Four of five members of the School\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the News"","block_context":{"text":"In the News","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2005,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions\/2005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}