{"id":3348,"date":"2018-08-12T10:21:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T14:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3348"},"modified":"2018-08-12T10:21:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T14:21:29","slug":"voter-guides-ii-both-the-strengths-and-weaknesses-of-evolution-should-be-taught","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3348","title":{"rendered":"Voter Guides II: &#8220;Both the strengths and weaknesses of evolution should be taught.&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Your-Vote-Counts-297x300.jpg\"><img data-attachment-id=\"3344\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?attachment_id=3344\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Your-Vote-Counts-297x300.jpg?fit=297%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"297,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Your-Vote-Counts-297&#215;300\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Your-Vote-Counts-297x300.jpg?fit=297%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Your-Vote-Counts-297x300.jpg?fit=297%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3344\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Your-Vote-Counts-297x300.jpg?resize=297%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"297\" height=\"300\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>A couple of conservative organizations recently released a new batch of voter guides for school board races in Indian River, Lee and Clay counties. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3343\">In a previous post<\/a> I highlighted voter guides for Lake, Marion and St. Lucie counties.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flvotesvalues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2018-Indian-River-County-FL-primary-voter-guide-p1.pdf\">Indian River County voter guide<\/a>, issued by the group Florida Votes Values, doesn&#8217;t mention anything directly related to evolution. But the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flvotesvalues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/2018-Lee-fl-primary-voter-guide-1pg-final.pdf\">Lee County one<\/a> does include this statement, which candidates are asked whether they support or oppose:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Amend DOE Curriculum Framework for Biology and Life Science to allow the teaching of life by intelligent design.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Five candidates &#8220;failed to respond,&#8221; one candidate is undecided, and one candidate supports that statement.<\/p>\n<p>The Clay Family Policy Forum released a <a href=\"http:\/\/clayfamilypolicyforum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ClayFamilyPolicy-VoterGuide2018-70614.pdf\">voter guide for Clay County<\/a>. It includes the following statements, which candidates are asked whether they support or oppose:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Florida Statute FS 1006.31 mandates that all instructional materials adopted by school boards in the state be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153accurate, objective, balanced and non-inflammatory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. New science textbooks adopted in February 2018 by a 3-2 vote of the Clay County School Board teach evolution exclusively<\/p>\n<p>Both the strengths and weaknesses of evolution should be taught.<\/p>\n<p>Evolution only should be taught.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Interestingly, not a single candidate stood up for evolution education, with some possibly going with the undecided or &#8220;chose not to respond&#8221; options instead.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that earlier this year, when the Clay County\u00c2\u00a0school board considered adopting new science textbooks, they engaged in lively debates about evolution in the classroom. Once board member said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But my difficulty lies in the narrow scope as it relates to the theory of human and species origin in that the only theory mentioned is evolution. And all that is expected for students to know is its supporting evidence and none of its flaws. At best, this limited level of exposure for students to the highly contested views on the origin of life and species is negligent. At the worst it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intellectually deceptive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And the district superintendent said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In no way, shape or form do our textbooks or will our textbooks ever reflect evolution as a fact because the fact that our state standards does not allow us to do so.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Read these blog posts for the full story:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3153\">Meanwhile in Clay County: the teaching of evolution is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153intellectually deceptive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3184\">Clay County superintendent: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In no way, shape or form do our textbooks or will our textbooks ever reflect evolution as a fact \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;ve encountered many people who don&#8217;t believe evolution education in schools is still an issue. They&#8217;re shocked when I inform them about all of the troubles we&#8217;ve had concerning this issue right here in Florida, right now in 2018. That&#8217;s why I write posts like this one. Everyone needs to know that there are citizen groups and candidates for office and actively serving politicians who certainly do think evolution education in our schools is a serious problem. They vote. They make important decisions. They pass laws. It&#8217;s the people who don&#8217;t think that it&#8217;s an issue who are allowing the vocal minority to undermine quality science education.<\/p>\n<p>So, what I&#8217;m saying is: you can help support quality science education by simply casting an informed vote and educating others about the issues. Share this post widely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of conservative organizations recently released a new batch of voter guides for school board races in Indian River, Lee and Clay counties. In a previous post I highlighted voter guides for Lake, Marion and St. Lucie counties. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3348\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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-S0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2479,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2479","url_meta":{"origin":3348,"position":0},"title":"Yes, people are still worried about evolution education in Florida","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Is teaching evolution still an issue here in Florida? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been quite a while since there have been any newsworthy mentions of opposition to evolution here. But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t still lurking under the surface, ready to burst out at any time. My evidence? Voting guides issued by\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2479#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/o_darwinismorintelligentdesign-230x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3343,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3343","url_meta":{"origin":3348,"position":1},"title":"Voter Guides: Florida candidates asked about intelligent design","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In an earlier post I asked you to be on the lookout for any local voting guides that include questions for candidates about science education. We now know the conservative organization Florida Votes Values started rolling out their surveys with ones for Lake, Marion and St. Lucie Counties, and they've\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3343#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Your-Vote-Counts-297x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":690,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=690","url_meta":{"origin":3348,"position":2},"title":"More silly season fun","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"August 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science has assembled a listing of all candidates running for the state Senate and House. We've included websites for the candidates as we could find them. Also of interest for anyone in Clay County: An organization active in that area sent out questionnaires to the local candidates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election season '08&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election season '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3338,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3338","url_meta":{"origin":3348,"position":3},"title":"It&#8217;s time to get engaged!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Local Elections Matter The Collier County school board narrowly approved new science textbooks for their schools 3-2 over protests from citizens about evolution and climate change. The Martin County school board approved science textbook adoptions by the same one-vote margin when citizens there also complained about evolution and climate change.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1176,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1176","url_meta":{"origin":3348,"position":4},"title":"It&#8217;s coming!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Our seminar, that is. The TCPalm was kind enough to publish a news release I sent them about our upcoming event on Saturday. FORT PIERCE \u00e2\u20ac\u201d A free seminar entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Attacks on Science, Science Education and Evolution\u00e2\u20ac\u009d will be March 20. Florida Citizens for Science is conducting the seminar in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1168,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1168","url_meta":{"origin":3348,"position":5},"title":"We&#8217;re hosting a seminar!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Florida Academy of Sciences is hosting its 74th Annual Meeting March 19-20 at Indian River State College, Fort Pierce. As part of that meeting, Florida Citizens for Science is proud to announce we are conducting a seminar: \"Attacks on Science, Science Education and Evolution\" is co-sponsored by the Florida\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348"}],"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=3348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3350,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348\/revisions\/3350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}