Texas Education Agency<\/a>] the 27 pages of recommendations for the Texas Science Standards made by Stephen Meyer.\u00c2\u00a0 It is quite apparent that he is 1) trying to alter the definition of science to include critical analysis of ideas for which there is not any scientific evidence; 2) is trying to legitimize paranormal forces as possible scientific explanations; 3) water down the definition of science so that the framework of how science is defined is less stringent than should be required and leave the definition more open to “interpretation”; 4) will have students learning about the “strengths and weaknesses” of so many different theories that there will be no time for a solid groundwork of the main ideas at all, etc.<\/p>\nHe refers to evolutionary biology as “primarily an historical science” (whatever the heck THAT means); he wants to require serious and in-depth discussions on the ORIGIN of life “including those from a pre-biotic soup”; he wants the standards to include evaluation of the “positive and negative impacts of biological research on society by studying examples from history including the germ theory of disease, the development of antibiotics, EUGENICS, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment; and theories of SCIENTIFIC RACISM”; and evaluate the evidence that the “HYPOTHESIS that the earth’s cooling led to tectonic activity, resulting in continents and ocean basins.”<\/p>\n
And Charles Garner wants the “vague” term of evolution to be replaced with MICROevolution. I’m not sure what point he is trying to make here<\/p>\n
But it sounds an awful lot like public opinion should be as valued as evidence when arriving at scientific conclusions (unless I’m reading this wrong).<\/p>\n
Furthermore it looks like he wants to “bench” earth space science until a time when it can be determined that it is taught “within the bounds of science”. What?!?!<\/p>\n
The seemingly innocuous changes that he and Meyers would like to make to the wording in the standards all would have the effect of weakening science as a way of “knowing” and understanding the material world.<\/p>\n
What do you all think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Florida Citizens for Science board member Kathy Savage granted me permission to post the text of a recent e-mail as a “guest post.” Here it is: When you get a chance go and read [Texas Education Agency] the 27 pages … 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":[28],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-cK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":791,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=791","url_meta":{"origin":790,"position":0},"title":"Texas scientists strike back","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent survey takes the pulse of the Texas higher education folks to see where evolution stands. The TFN Education Fund's press release summarizes five key findings from the survey: \"1. Texas scientists (97.7 percent) overwhelmingly reject 'intelligent design' as valid science. 2. Texas science faculty (95 percent) want only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Other states' news"","block_context":{"text":"Other states' news","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":972,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=972","url_meta":{"origin":790,"position":1},"title":"Ripples from Texas Continued","author":"Jonathan Smith","date":"March 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"BREAKING NEWS: A proposed amendment adding \u00e2\u20ac\u0153strengths and weaknesses\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of scientific theories back to the science standards has failed on a 7-7 vote. This is a huge victory for sound science, but not the final word. The final vote will be taken on Friday. And board members may now offer\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=972#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":873,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=873","url_meta":{"origin":790,"position":2},"title":"What’s happening in Texas","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of Florida newspapers ran stories this morning about the fight over evolution instruction in Texas. Sarasota Herald: In Texas, a Line in the Curriculum Revives Evolution Debate Many biologists and teachers said they feared that the board would force textbook publishers to include what skeptics see as weaknesses\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=47","url_meta":{"origin":790,"position":3},"title":"Florida Citizens for Science statement released","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The following statement was released to area media today: Florida Citizens for Science Statement Denouncing \"Darwin or Design\" Publicity Event A creationism event to be hosted at the Sun Dome Sept. 29, called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Darwin or Design? Resolving the Conflict,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a great example of a slick public relations campaign attacking\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":363,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=363","url_meta":{"origin":790,"position":4},"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. 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