Thursday 29 November 2007

Dover part 2: Polk County, Florida

Hot off the heels of the NOVA doccumentary on the Dover trials comes something that will probably give you that eerie feeling of deja vu: the school board in Polk County, Florida has had a majority vote to include intelligent design as part of the school science cirriculum. The board has voted 4 to 2 on teaching intelligent design along with evolution. The currently proposed standard for Polk county schools lists evolution and biological diversity as one of the "big ideas" that students should know to have a well grounded science education, and 4 of the board members are in direct opposition to this.

Quote board member Margret Lofton (emphasis mine):

"If it ever comes to the board for a vote, I will vote against the teaching of evolution as part of the science curriculum," Lofton said. "If (evolution) is taught, I would want to balance it with the fact that we may live in a universe created by a supreme being as well."

""It crosses the line with people who are Christians," according to her. "Evolution is offensive to a lot of people." Let me paraphrase this for you: "It doesnt matter if something is true, some people find it offensive so we shouldnt teach it." What complete idiocy.

Thankfully, the scientific community in Florida is up in arms about this decision and strongly supports the current scientific standards proposal.

I dont know if these people are ignorant of the whole Dover case or what. This all seems like the same situtation all over again. Im just waiting for the Discovery Institute to get involved.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If the DI gets involved, they will get beat again and may be liable for the district's legal fees.

I think the DI is less focused on school boards right now, and is just trying to create a grassroots and misinformation drive with movies like Expelled and things that appeal to as many people as possible.