{"id":248,"date":"2007-07-17T07:11:34","date_gmt":"2007-07-17T11:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=248"},"modified":"2008-08-05T13:47:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T17:47:00","slug":"dover-a-win-for-teach-the-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=248","title":{"rendered":"Dover a win for “teach the controversy”?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We here in Florida are revising the state science standards, so this story about “teach the controversy”<\/a> is worth reading and keeping in the back of your mind. Basically, the story claims that intelligent design’s tanking in Dover, Pa. was actually a good thing for ID. Anti-evolutionists are now supposedly wholeheartedly united behind the “teach the controversy” tactic. Taking time to point out a bunch of evolution’s so-called shortcomings in the science classroom is supposedly legally bulletproof, according to the article.<\/p>\n

But the Dover lawsuit also highlighted the effectiveness of the Discovery Institute’s approach. State school boards in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New Mexico, and Minnesota along with local boards in Wisconsin and Louisiana have adopted science standards that encourage critical analysis of Darwinian Theory. To date, not a single lawsuit has challenged such standards.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s try to keep such nonsense out of Florida’s science standards. “Critical analysis” or “teach the controversy” is only valid if there is a legitmate controversy, and if the\u00c2\u00a0real controversy is something applicable to a middle school or high school introductory level course. A group of vocal anti-science advocates guided by narrow religious ideology screeching about “gaps” in the fossil record and long dead watchmaker arguments don’t qualify as having a legitimate controversy. If there is no actual research concerning ID going on, and no serious scientist working in a relevant field gives ID any notice, then where is this controversy? Every so-called “critical analysis” brought on by the anti-science folks has been refuted many times over, so why waste time on\u00c2\u00a0this garbage\u00c2\u00a0in a\u00c2\u00a0high school science classroom?\u00c2\u00a0Should students be taught the controversy concerning the Earth going around the sun? Sheesh. Time is valuable in the science classroom, as it is in any classroom, especially with FCATs looming so large over everything. There is no time for addressing crackpot ideas in an already packed schedule.<\/p>\n

Like I said, let’s keep this out of Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We here in Florida are revising the state science standards, so this story about “teach the controversy” is worth reading and keeping in the back of your mind. Basically, the story claims that intelligent design’s tanking in Dover, Pa. was … 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":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-40","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":317,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=317","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":0},"title":"Last night’s science standards meeting","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Sentinel reports that several people attended last night's meeting in Orlando about the new draft science standards with the objective of promoting intelligent design and complaining about evolution. But several people who spoke Thursday urged state Department of Education officials to allow schools to teach intelligent design and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":314,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=314","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":1},"title":"So, how did the “town meeting” about science standards go?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"There was a meeting Wednesday evening to solicit comments in person about the new draft science standards. It was just a boring, ho-hum meeting, right? A real snooze-fest, right? No. Mark Hohmeister of the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper attended and reports back that things were lively. I wonder why? Wakulla County\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":353,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=353","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":2},"title":"More about Pinellas mess","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, the St. Petersburg Times teased in their education blog today's story about the Pinellas County school board's creationist majority. The board members are confused. They worry that students will have a tough time meshing the scientific theory of evolution with their personal and family religious beliefs. And it would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alert"","block_context":{"text":"Alert","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":167,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=167","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":3},"title":"Interview with Wesley Elsberry","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I had written a college paper on the subject of introducing intelligent design into the public school classroom. For that paper I had to do some primary research, which involved either an interview with a subject expert or a survey. I opted for an interview and I chose Wesley Elsberry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2061,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2061","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":4},"title":"Textbook controversy article","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I was quoted in an article published today about the bill in the state legislature that purposes to change the way textbooks are selected here in Florida: Volusia textbook controversy prompts legislation. My quote about conservative school boards reads harsher than I had intended. I was explaining to the reporter\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2061#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=300","url_meta":{"origin":248,"position":5},"title":"Article on science standards\/evolution in The Ledger","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ledger ran an article today about the new draft science standards and predictably focused entirely on the inclusion of evolution. As I've mentioned before, I think that is irresponsible and sensationalist. I understand that evolution garners high interest, but the real story is that the standards are being improved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248"}],"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=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}