{"id":2118,"date":"2014-04-30T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T16:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2118"},"modified":"2014-06-22T17:03:01","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T21:03:01","slug":"nope-i-didnt-say-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2118","title":{"rendered":"Nope, I didn’t say that."},"content":{"rendered":"

A column was published today in the Tallahassee Democrat (Michael McShane: Don’t blame vouchers for poor science instruction<\/a>) that agrees with my earlier column in that newspaper concerning how it’s wrong to teach creationism, but then he distorts the purpose of my column<\/a> and attributes motives to me that I don’t have.<\/p>\n

In other words, he completely missed the main point of my column, which was about the need for better accountability in voucher schools. Or maybe he purposely twisted my intentions out of whack to serve his own ends. I don’t know. In my column I was very careful to not bash voucher schools overall and even stated “Florida Citizens for Science does not take a stand for or against voucher programs.” I also didn’t blame the lack of public acceptance of evolution on voucher-accepting private schools. But if anyone reads McShane’s column without referring back to my own column, the reader would get the wrong impression that I blamed voucher schools for the proliferation of creationism.<\/p>\n

“Gallup polling consistently finds about 45 percent of the population of the United States believing in creationism. Note, this cannot possibly be attributed to the pernicious effects of vouchers, or private schools writ large, as approximately one half of 1 percent of students participate in voucher programs and at no point in the last 50 years have more than 12 percent or so of students attended private schools.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

OK. I have no problem with that statement, but it doesn’t address anything I said in my column. In my column I noted that there was an effort in the state legislature to expand a voucher program. Then I said that some, not all, voucher schools teach creationism and they get away with it because there is no accountability. Finally, I argued that any expansion of the voucher program should include an accountability requirement. At no time did I say that voucher schools were the source of the general public’s belief in creationism.<\/p>\n

“But on the specific issue of creationism, the explanation is relatively straightforward. Public schools teach creationism because they are, at their core, political institutions. They are governed by elected officials. If a majority of the voting public in a particular jurisdiction believes in creationism, they will advocate for creationism to be taught in the public schools.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That is only partially true. I’m sure some teachers in strongly conservative school districts get away with teaching creationism simply because no one complains. But any outright, public advocacy for creationism would be quickly shut down because it’s illegal to teach creationism in public school science classrooms, according to the U.S. Supreme Court. I’ve written about many such attempts here in Florida in my book<\/a>. McShane has no idea what he’s talking about.<\/p>\n

“So what do you do if you are a person who lives in an area where the preponderance of the voting population believes in creationism? If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re wealthier, you can move to the attendance zone of a school that teaches evolution or pay for your child to attend a private school that offers the correct interpretation of scientific history. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re poor, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re out of luck. You will be legally compelled to send your child to a public school that teaches something you know is wrong.<\/p>\n

“That is, unless your state has a voucher program.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wrong. If your child is being taught creationism in a public school science classroom, you complain. You talk with the teacher and let that teacher know that teaching creationism is illegal. If that doesn’t work, you move up to the principal. Then you move up to the school board and superintendent. Finally, if all else fails, you set a lawsuit in motion. Yes, you can move to a voucher school (hopefully, one that has a good science program). But that’s not your only option.<\/p>\n

McShane, if you want to be a cheerleader for voucher schools, go for it. But I wish you wouldn’t use a distorted interpretation of my views and a gross lack of understanding of how creationism in public schools can be handled to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A column was published today in the Tallahassee Democrat (Michael McShane: Don’t blame vouchers for poor science instruction) that agrees with my earlier column in that newspaper concerning how it’s wrong to teach creationism, but then he distorts the purpose … 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-ya","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2057,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2057","url_meta":{"origin":2118,"position":0},"title":"Supportive letter to the editor","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It's nice to see a supportive letter to the editor (following up on my column in the Tampa Bay Times). Bad science at voucher schools March 20, commentary Torch of reason As a retired science teacher I am very pleased that Brandon Haught is keeping the torch of reason alive\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2038,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2038","url_meta":{"origin":2118,"position":1},"title":"Accountability in voucher schools","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Companion bills in the state legislature are attempting to expand a school voucher program. The House bill recently got a green light from one of its committee stops, but news accounts point out that the House version may not quite match the version in the Senate. The House bill gives\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 10 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 10 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2038#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3299,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3299","url_meta":{"origin":2118,"position":2},"title":"Reactions to Schools Without Rules article","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Sentinel published an article a few days ago highlighting the atrocious curriculum some voucher-accepting private schools use:\u00c2\u00a0Private schools' curriculum downplays slavery, says humans and dinosaurs lived together. Now we're starting to see reactions to the story. First there is Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano writing about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2040,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2040","url_meta":{"origin":2118,"position":3},"title":"Reflect upon the divine","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week in the Florida House, the Finance & Tax Subcommittee debated and approved the bill \"PCB FTSC 14-02 Relating to Tax Credit Scholarships.\" This is an attempt to dramatically expand a particular school voucher program (see a previous post on this). As we've stated before, Florida Citizens for Science\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2040#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2059,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2059","url_meta":{"origin":2118,"position":4},"title":"Failing history, too","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We've been really hammering on how some Florida private schools that participate in state voucher programs handle science education. Science is our focus, after all. However, it's not the only subject suffering from lack of any oversight. Read this article: 10 Insane History Lessons that Private, Religious Voucher Schools Are\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3292,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3292","url_meta":{"origin":2118,"position":5},"title":"Blatant creationism in “Schools Without Rules”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Sentinel has been running an excellent investigative series called \"Schools Without Rules\" about private schools that accept public money in the form of various types of scholarships (otherwise known as vouchers). The articles have been documenting \"problems in some scholarship schools, including campuses that hired teachers without degrees\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3292#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118"}],"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=2118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2119,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions\/2119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}