notto

LOL

<a href="http://www.frankinatra.com/HillDanClark2.htm" target="_blank">This month's Hillbilly: Pseudo-scientist, Dan Clark</a>

Special creationist hotheads get a lot of mileage out of pointing out that evolution is "just a theory." Such semantic shenanigans makes the heads of the more intellectually challenged wag approvingly. Of course, the rules of science say that anything is called a theory that can’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In other words, biologists can’t say, "At 11:15 on Friday, October 10, 325,235,854,587 BC, the first bacterium on the planet Earth came to life near what is now Waukesha, Wisconsin, and began the evolutionary process." Because scientists can’t pinpoint the origin of life that precisely, they can’t claim with absolute certainty that something is the absolute truth—hence the necessity for the word, "theory."

An equivalent rule change would involve a scientist interrupting a preacher on Sunday morning and demanding evidence for the miracles of Jesus. When the preacher counters with the Holy Gospel, the scientist would point out, "That is very suspect testimony written by an individual more than 30 years after the fact. Show me evidence. Show me one of these loaves that was transformed into a fish."

Nor is science simply a popularity contest. People say that Clark was brave because he was simply presenting his viewpoint. But if an English teacher required that her students spell "fish" as "phish" or changed the rules of syntax, we would reprimand that teacher for incompetence. That’s not how the word is spelled and that’s not how sentences are formed. No matter how strongly the teacher feels about that position, she is not teaching anything but her own eccentricities. We shouldn’t praise such a buffoon for standing up for what she believes in, but vilify her for not conforming to teaching standards and for keeping our children from learning.

Arrowman

Would this be the same Lafayette Jeffersion High that spawned the student lobby group SpecialCreation.net and was mentioned in the PBS Evolution series? Just curious.

Pomp

Beautiful Indiana. We've got the Klan and we've got this.

Free Thinkr

Lol... this is all pretty funny to me, as I'm in Lafayette right now (at Purdue University). Not too many clansmen 'round these here parts tho! <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

stryder2112

Unfortunately, it's exactly the same Lafayette Jefferson High mentioned in the PBS series. Unfortunately this idiocy continues still today. There have been some real doozies written to the editor of the local paper over the last two months.

<a href="http://www.lafayettejc.com/news20020219/200202192local_opinion1014096239.shtml" target="_blank">Creationist Quote-mining (near bottom)</a>

(Unfortunately, the guest opinion from a local lawyer complaining about evolution in schools athat started this all again is no longer available online.)

Stryder

Talking Rain

Huh, that's odd. I just got finished reading in the March Scientific American that Indiana's state standards for the teaching of evolution is "Very Good/Excellent" One of only ten that get that high of a rating. I guess that doesn't stop them from accidentally hiring a crackpot every once in a while. At least he is out on his ass.

<a href="http://www.sciam.com/2002/0302issue/0302numbers.html" target="_blank">Here is the article</a>

-TR

stryder2112

I don't doubt that the standards are very good in Indiana. That's the real controversy: they actually attempt to teach evolution in Indiana public schools rather than simply gloss over it or ignore it. The next step by the local hillbillies, unfortunatly, will probably be to get stealth candidates voted onto the state school board to get these standards dropped.

Stryder

butswana

Yes, they do teach evolution here in Indiana. My daughter's 6th grade biology book provides a pretty good overview. I was pleasantly surprised.

Synaesthesia

Not quite. Theoretical principles such as the second law of thermodynamics or evolution can be just as certain, beyond any resonable doubt, as any fact. The difference between a theory and a fact is simply that the latter can be observed by anyone whereas theories are the interpretive frameworks by which we can understand those facts.

RufusAtticus

Lucky bastard. In my state students are lucky if they spend more than 30mins on the subject during the year. It is even more suprising because The University of Georgia, the freakin' flagship state university, has one of the best concentrations evolutionary and population biologists in the nation. Sometimes I think my state's education system is like Janus when it comes to evolution.

-RvFvS