January 30, 2004


Are we not men?

No we are stupid. It seems that the Completely Stupid Masses in Georgia, or the republican party want the word "evolution" dropped from their curriculum because it's all ... icky and un-biblical and stuff.

Georgia students could graduate from high school without learning much about evolution, and may never even hear the word in class.

New middle and high school science standards proposed by state Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox strike references to "evolution" and replace them with the term "biological changes over time," a revision critics say will further weaken learning in a critical subject.
...
"Just like any major issue people need to deal with, you need to know the facts," said David Bechler, head of the biology department at Valdosta State University. A member of the committee that worked on the biology standards, Bechler said he was stunned to learn that evolution was not in the final proposal.

"Whether you believe in creationism or not, evolution should be known and understood by the public," he argued.
...
"The students from other states always perform better in my classes, and that's a real indictment of the state educational system," the professor said. "North Carolina, another very conservative state, adopted all of the benchmarks. If they can do it in North Carolina, why can't Georgia do it?"

That's probably the only way to win the argument in Georgia ... North Carolina can nyahh nyahh!

I want to personally thank Ms. Cox for removing Georgia public-school students from the group of people my kids will have to compete with for things like Med School, anything relating to science and most likely anything requiring a college degree. After all, schools like MIT/Stanford/Harvard and Yale won't be having special "remedial biology" classes to help the dumb ass Georgia crackers learn about Darwin. All the kids want to do is get educated (for the most part) all the parents want to do is stay "right with Pat", courtesy of Ralph Reed who now runs the Georgia republican party.

Once again, the republican christo-fascist agenda leads us on the road to being a global laughingstock. Nice work. Next in the redoubtable republican curriculum change: Classical Physics - there are no immoveable masses or frictionless surfaces ... see, because only god can make those.

If you want to log into the article, try gorevidal@gorevidal.com password gorevidal. Thanks to someone for thinking of us.

posted by Jo Fish on 01.30.04 at 10:39 PM





Comments:

Evolution isn't going away just because some people don't agree with it. If a school isn't going to teach current science, it puts its students at a disavantage.

I have long maintained that schools should teach the King James Version of the Bible as literature. The book is a constant allusion in English-speaking letters and society, but everyone wants to teach it as religion.

You can't go around slicing off chunks of reality and expect students to succeed.

posted by: Bryan on 01.30.04 at 10:56 PM [permalink]



This is so sad. Americans need to look at this with a clear eye and smack these wingnuts good. This is the century of the emerging biosciences, and America cannot afford to lose the edge that she current has in cutting-edge research. How do you expect to do ANYTHING in biology without even a cursory understanding and appreciation of evolution?

posted by: jess on 01.30.04 at 11:43 PM [permalink]



Maybe Ray Charles can modify his hit song "Georgia" by eliminating the words "...on my mind" and substituting "...out of their minds".

posted by: Shag from Brookline on 01.31.04 at 07:20 AM [permalink]



Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so.

posted by: Thompson Jason on 05.03.04 at 09:53 AM [permalink]






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