{"id":3217,"date":"2018-03-09T10:34:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T15:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3217"},"modified":"2018-03-09T10:34:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T15:34:17","slug":"discovery-institute-defending-quality-science-education-is-un-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3217","title":{"rendered":"Discovery Institute: defending quality science education is “un-American”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Florida hasn’t been on the Discovery Institute’s radar lately but an article in Nature<\/em> got them riled up a bit. The DI’s rant “Shock: Florida Laws Would Give Floridians a Say on Science Education<\/a>” complains about the Nature<\/em> piece “Florida residents could soon get the power to alter science classes<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

The DI says that allowing citizens input into the selection of textbooks is a good thing. And it is. But a mechanism for citizen input was already in place before our new law expanded their potential influence and mandated a burden on school districts of possibly having official hearings before an appointed hearing officer. The clear intention is to dilute the input of subject matter experts and give more influence to creationists, climate change deniers and other fringe ideas in all academic subjects. We know that for a fact because we’ve been tracking the source of this legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The irony is rich in the DI’s rant:<\/p>\n

Wait a minute. Unlike the shape of the earth, the mechanisms of evolution are hotly contested in mainstream science. Unfortunately, it is all too common for students to receive one-sided teaching about neo-Darwinism, amounting to indoctrination. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153objective.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d So, as far as it pertains to evolution, a bill that encourages responsible, factual instruction about scientific evidence on both sides \u00e2\u20ac\u201d does Darwinian theory adequately explain biological diversity or not? \u00e2\u20ac\u201d sounds pretty good! Of course, where there is scientific controversy, science should be taught in a balanced manner. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t science all about critical thinking, weighing and examining data? Bringing a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flat Earth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153creationism,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d into the discussion doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make sense.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As usual, the DI believes their wacky ideas should be treated seriously but those flat-earthers are nuts.<\/p>\n

And creationism was brought into the discussion by the very people who wrote Florida’s new law and the bill in this year’s legislative session.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, it looks like this year’s bills that would have allowed even more textbook shenanigans are dead (SB 1644<\/a> and HB 827<\/a>). And the other pair of bills that would have mandated in all science classes “Controversial theories and concepts must be taught in a factual, objective, and balanced manner” never really even made it out of the gate (SB 966<\/a> and HB 825<\/a>).<\/p>\n

And the DI finishes the piece with:<\/p>\n

But the idea that citizens and legislators weighing in will degrade the science education their children receive?<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s un-American. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also dogmatic, not open-minded and scientific.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No. Diluting the input of education and science experts with the uninformed opinions of Joe-the-creationist-with-an-axe-to-grind runs counter to the purpose of education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida hasn’t been on the Discovery Institute’s radar lately but an article in Nature got them riled up a bit. The DI’s rant “Shock: Florida Laws Would Give Floridians a Say on Science Education” complains about the Nature piece “Florida … 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-PT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":612,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=612","url_meta":{"origin":3217,"position":0},"title":"Why does a Louisiana issue matter in Florida?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We here in Florida endured a lengthy public debate concerning the teaching of evolution in our public schools. It started with the revision process of the state science standards and then rolled right into the state legislative session. Fortunately, the standards were not meddled with too much, and the bills\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 13 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 13 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=612#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":529,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=529","url_meta":{"origin":3217,"position":1},"title":"News Release: “Academic Freedom” bills needless and treacherous","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The following press release has been sent out. Our media page is available for any interested reporters. SO-CALLED \"ACADEMIC FREEDOM\" BILLS ARE NEEDLESS AND TREACHEROUS Senate bill 2692, \"evolution academic freedom act\" will be going before the Judiciary committee Tuesday. 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