While not getting a heck of a lot of press, unless you were actually looking for it, Florida’s “Evolution Academic Freedom Act,” has been percolating just under the surface. I came across an article @ it this morning in the Orlando Sentinel that points out a couple of problems with the concept.
The act was approved 7-3 by the Fl. Senate Judiciary Committee & will go to the full chamber for consideration. No date has been set yet. The reason for this, & I’ll quote reporter Linda Kleindienst here, is so that, “Florida teachers could mention religious theories about human origins, such as creationism & intelligent design, without fearing retribution under a measure that passed a key Senate committee Tuesday.” And within that statement are the problems.
According to the story, Senator Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, “filed the bill after hearing cases of students & teachers who felt “muzzled” & unable to discuss alternate theories on the origin of life. She said teachers have suffered retribution from school authorities & students have been the target of “denigrating comments” from other teachers.”
This is the first problem. First, she offered no documentation to substantiate her claim of students being targets. Second, according to the article, “Despite Storm’s claims of reprisals against teachers, according to the Florida Department of Education there has never been a case in Florida in which a public-school teacher has claimed discrimination based on science teaching.” Considering this, one has to wonder just what kind of agenda Senator is trying to advance.
The second problem, referring to the first quote is allowing teachers to mention “religious theories about human origins, such as creationism & intelligent design.” First, I am assuming that any or all of this will be in a science class of some kind. If so, why would religion be taught in a science class in the first place? That leads to the other problem. Outside of the theory of evolution, I am not aware of any other theories, religious or otherwise, that explain human origins. If any of you have heard of them, I’d like to hear @ them.
You can call creationism & intelligent design many things. You can call them religious ideas, concepts, precepts, dogma, mythology. You might even get to call either one a hypothesis. But by no stretch of the imagination can they meet the requirements to be called a theory.
Sorry, but this just does not pass the smell test. I fear that more time & taxpayer money will be wasted. The reputation of science standards in this state will continue to be dismal & one question must be asked. To what end? JATFUR.
RichK