{"id":3180,"date":"2018-01-31T17:21:51","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T22:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3180"},"modified":"2018-01-31T17:21:51","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T22:21:51","slug":"yes-just-a-theory-is-getting-under-my-skin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3180","title":{"rendered":"Yes, “just a theory” is getting under my skin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I’ve been hearing the “evolution is just a theory” crap much too often lately. And I imagine I’ll be hearing much more of it in the coming months. It prompted me to use it as the theme of my latest opinion column, this time published in the Daytona Beach News Journal today:\u00c2\u00a0Banish \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcevolution is just a theory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with sound science education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Evolution is just a theory.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d When someone utters that phrase, there is no clearer signal that the speaker has completely failed to grasp one of the most basic of science concepts. A theory is not a guess in science. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s instead used by scientists to indicate a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re unlikely to hear \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gravity is just a theory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153germs causing disease is just a theory.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

And yet \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evolution is just a theory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is suddenly popping up in conversations across Florida.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Science education is facing an unprecedented attack not seen since 2008 when state board of education members and state lawmakers tried to override science education experts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 revision of the state science standards. Prominent scientists, science associations and educators rallied behind the accurate standards that included evolution as a prominent, required topic. They barely squeaked out a win on behalf of our state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s students against the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just a theory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d mob.<\/p>\n

And here we are a decade later fighting the same old battles. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s embarrassing.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t drag Florida back onto the national stage to be laughed at just like we were in 2008. Let our teachers break this ridiculous cycle by properly teaching the next generation what a scientific theory really means. Through truly rigorous education maybe we can finally put behind us the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evolution is just a theory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d dunces.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been hearing the “evolution is just a theory” crap much too often lately. And I imagine I’ll be hearing much more of it in the coming months. It prompted me to use it as the theme of my latest … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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":true,"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-Pi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3301,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3301","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":0},"title":"Martin County textbook complaints: “scientific sounding language” fails to impress","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A hearing was held on May 9 after several Martin County residents complained about the \"one-sided\" nature of science textbooks the school board was in the process of adopting. I gave a very detailed account of what happened at the hearing:\u00c2\u00a0Martin County textbook hearing: Evolution \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is not proven science\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. For\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3301#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":438,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=438","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":1},"title":"News roundup on public forum","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for letters to the editor. Pick you closest paper and fire off responses today to the various articles about yesterday's science standards public forum. Don't do it tomorrow. Do it today! Lakeland Ledger -- Science experts countered that theory has a different meaning in the biological world. \"It\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":[]},{"id":363,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=363","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":2},"title":"Has it hit you where you live yet?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The battle over evolution continues at a fierce pace, as we discover in the Palm Beach Post today. Three new counties are now added to our watchlist: St Lucie, Palm Beach, and Martin. However, we need to keep our eyes on the ball. The real fight that we must concentrate\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":3184,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3184","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":3},"title":"Clay County superintendent: “In no way, shape or form do our textbooks or will our textbooks ever reflect evolution as a fact …”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This year school districts across Florida are adopting new science textbooks. In many of those districts the process is pretty far along, with committees already having looked at the options and made their selections. Then the materials are offered to the public for viewing and comments. For instance, I know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Textbooks"","block_context":{"text":"Textbooks","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3278,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3278","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":4},"title":"Martin County complaints: “present the case both for and against the theory of evolution”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Martin County school district held an official hearing May 9 in response to several complaints about evolution in the science textbooks the district is considering adopting for the next school year. I am waiting to get a recording of the hearing but I did obtain from the school district\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Textbooks"","block_context":{"text":"Textbooks","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":329,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=329","url_meta":{"origin":3180,"position":5},"title":"Anti-science or anti-evolution?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A blog reader sent me an e-mail a couple of weeks ago taking me to task for calling any groups who oppose evolution \"anti-science.\" The writer wants to know why I say \"anti-science\" instead of simply \"anti-evolution.\" Here is my response: Thank you very much for your thought-provoking e-mail. I\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\/3180"}],"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=3180"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3183,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180\/revisions\/3183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}