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no evolution...
mr mcmuffin on 12 Jan 2008 @ 11:34 AM ✲ Permalink
Comments
Florida is the land of butterfly ballots and morons.
Posted by: Karan | 12 Jan 2008 20:19:14
I don't understand why the federal government doesn't step in an stop this madness. I know all about George Jnr's strange notions but that shouldn't prevent them from doing something to ensure that the US doesn't sink further into the quagmire of ignorance.
Posted by: mr mcmuffin | 12 Jan 2008 20:33:59
Generally, education in the US is locally controlled and largely locally funded. There might be curricula standards set by the state, but the specifics of what is taught and how is usually worked out by local school boards. Fundamentalists have been slowly getting elected to those boards, since the 1980s, as a way of trying to block the teaching of subjects like evolution.
Frankly, the last time that the current president got involved in primary education policy, it was with the No Child Left Behind Act. It included requirements for nation wide testing of children. That has meant that teachers now spend a significant amount of time "teaching to the test," over broader curriculum approaches. It matters particularly to struggling schools which get federal funding to support improvements in their teaching results. If poor schools fail to show improvement, they can lose their federal funding and be open to take-over by private firms... All of which means that students might be getting more skilled at taking multiple choice tests, but not much else.
So, all things being equal, if the feds stepped in, it would probably only result in people learning *less* about science, although obviously those schools in Florida have jumped the gun in that regard.
I'm only embarrassed by this nonsense to the extent that I voluntarily joined the circus, but the flip side is that the combination of religious rubes who don't want to upset their belief sets and lazy hedonists who are more concerned about their self-image thtan academic performance, means a world of opportunity for the rest of us...
Posted by: Colin | 13 Jan 2008 05:16:33
Colin said what I implied.
Posted by: Karan | 16 Jan 2008 19:50:51
I got that, Karan, I really did!
It must be so frustrating for all the normal people to cope with this nonsense, you have my sympathy.
Posted by: mrs mcmuffin | 17 Jan 2008 20:22:58
