{"id":494,"date":"2008-03-06T17:33:17","date_gmt":"2008-03-06T22:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=494"},"modified":"2008-08-05T11:01:12","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T15:01:12","slug":"just-cruising-for-a-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=494","title":{"rendered":"Just cruising for a lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Petersburg Times has a good post on its education blog<\/a> about the creationism bills (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153academic freedom act\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) filed in the state senate and house. The main question on the reporter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind is: what problem are these bills supposed to address? The reporter correctly notes that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the teachers who want to teach scientifically-accepted evolution who are feeling the pressure to downplay or even not teach the subject at all. Where are all the poor, oppressed teachers who want to teach something else? Honestly, I have no doubt there are plenty out there flying under the radar, especially in rural counties where their alternative views on science are essentially protected by the conservative community. Think of all those northern county school boards that issued anti-evolution resolutions. Setting that aside, though, where are all the persecuted teachers losing their jobs over their alternative views? Who will the proposed bills protect? Even the legislators who filed the bills have trouble answering that question.<\/p>\n

I would encourage reporters to go a step further when digging into this issue. Note how Rep. Hays throws out an old canard about evolution having holes in it. Every scientific field\/theory has holes in it. Heck, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s practically a defining characteristic of science itself. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the never-ending pursuit of knowledge to fill in the holes. Will all the holes ever be filled? No. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what draws folks into the science field and keeps them busy. Once again we see evolution being singled out, which is a purposeful ploy to fool the general public. Joe and Jane Public don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to know about all those other sciencey holes and stuff. They just need to know that there are holes in evolution. Ignore all the holes that have been filled over the years, folks. They mean nothing. I daresay that if you press Hays to come up with the details concerning some holes, he would say something silly, like there are no half creatures running around out there, so that means evolution is a crock. Oh, wait! He actually did say that!<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No one yet has found a half-animal of this or a half-insect of that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hays continued. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And they certainly haven’t found any half ape and half man.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s painfully obvious that Hays has no clue what he is talking about. Just stop and think for a moment. Human transportation certainly has changed over the years. So, by Hays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reasoning, we should see some half buggies and half Ferraris out there, right? Hays needs some education on things like transitional fossils<\/a>. Or maybe he thinks these chimeras he demands science to produce should literally be something straight out of circus side show exhibits. In that case, I have no idea how to get through to someone so potentially reality-challenged.<\/p>\n

Before attacking evolution on the political front, Hays, Storms and others should be required to take a simple evolution exam. Nothing too complicated is needed. Just some basic concepts called for in our brand new science standards, say from the middle school level. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect our state legislators to be experts on every subject they deal with there at the state capital, but I do expect them to do some basic research and educate themselves on the subjects. This is especially important when the legislator is the one filing the doggone bill!<\/p>\n

The St. Petersburg Times blog post focuses on the teacher aspect. But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not forget that students are addressed in the bill, too. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Public school students in the state’s K-12 school system may be evaluated based upon their understanding of course materials, but may not be penalized in any way because he or she subscribes to a particular position or view regarding biological or chemical evolution.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d A good question to ask here is what happens when a student fills in an exam question concerning evolution with: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I do not believe in evolution and based on that belief refuse to answer this question.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Or how about if the student goes the hard core route: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153According to such-n-such verse of such-n-such chapter of the Bible, God specially created man.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The teacher then marks these answer as wrong and the student gets no credit and possibly fails the exam. Is the student being penalized? Can the teacher then be disciplined or even sued based on this bill?<\/p>\n

Does this sound like academic freedom to you? It sounds much more like freedom from<\/strong> education to me. These bills are nothing more than the setup to an expensive lawsuit.<\/p>\n

HB 1483<\/a> was filed on March 4 and had its first reading later that evening. SB 2692<\/a> was filed February 29 and hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen any other action yet. I have no idea when these bills will be considered in their respective committees (House<\/a> and Senate<\/a>. Let me know if I have the wrong ones linked here, please). Everyone needs to keep an eye on the committees and track the bills\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 progress. The committee members are listed on the committee pages and links will take you to contact information for each person. Here are some good tips<\/a> for communicating with those folks.
\nThe track record for similar bills in other states is bad. I would hate for Florida to break that trend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St. Petersburg Times has a good post on its education blog about the creationism bills (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153academic freedom act\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) filed in the state senate and house. The main question on the reporter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind is: what problem are these bills supposed … 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-7Y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1178,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1178","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":0},"title":"New study: How do Florida teachers feel about evolution?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida science teachers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 jobs are in jeopardy if they dare challenge biological evolution in the public school classroom, claimed state senator Ronda Storms when she filed her Academic Freedom bill in 2008. The bill says that \"in many instances educators have experienced or feared discipline, discrimination, or other adverse consequences\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1178#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":868,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=868","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":1},"title":"Louisiana goes down the rabbit hole","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Want to know where those horrible, deceptively-named \"academic freedom\" bills will take a state? Have a look at Louisiana. Last year, Louisiana passed the Louisiana Science Education Act, a law that many scientists and educators said was a thinly veiled attempt to allow creationism and its variants into the science\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 7 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 7 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=868#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":552,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=552","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":2},"title":"Early news reports on today’s tap dance","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Senator Storms' tap dancing has made the news here and there. (edited to add the Palm Beach Post editorial.) Palm Beach Post editorial: Fraudulent evolution bill Translated, the bill wants creationism - disguised as \"intelligent design\" - to have equal billing in classrooms. The bill is a fraud. The staff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08"","block_context":{"text":"\"Academic Freedom\" bills '08","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":503,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=503","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":3},"title":"A quick analysis","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's my quick take on the whole Expelled mess and the relation to the creationism bills. I've been closely watching the media reports concerning science education in Florida for a few years now. I've seen tidal waves of news coverage when anti-evolution\/anti-science rises from the depths. The Seattle-based Discovery Institute\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Creationism Bills"","block_context":{"text":"Creationism Bills","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2600,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2600","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":4},"title":"Let’s not forget about the Instructional Materials bills","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We've been giving a lot of attention to the\u00c2\u00a0Religious Expression in Public Schools bills because they're seeing quite a bit action in the Florida legislature. But let's not forget that we're also monitoring Instructional Materials bills filed in both chambers (House Bill 989 and Senate Bill 1210). We're concerned about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3506,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3506","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":5},"title":"Florida Evolution vs. Creationism Timeline","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The need to defend science education in Florida is truly never ending. I chronicled the many skirmishes, battles and wars fought over the teaching of evolution in my book Going Ape: Florida's Battles over Evolution in the Classroom. The Florida anti-evolution efforts I wrote about started in the 1920s and\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\/494"}],"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=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}