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Stage set for evolution/creationism textbook battle

a_unique_person said:


That's right Tony, no one in private or home education is taught Creationism.
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Woosh!!

Hear that? Thats the sound of something going over your head.
 
Dragon said:


There is such a person, the Rev. Roger Paynter, and he spoke at the Texas Board of Education hearing (from this link)


May his God bless him.
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Why can't more xtians be like this guy, since
perhaps striving to be like Christ is beyond the call of duty?
 
shecky said:


Why can't more xtians be like this guy, since
perhaps striving to be like Christ is beyond the call of duty?
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Most Christians I know (including myself) are like this guy but they/we are not the ones making all the noice.
 
ShowMe said:
Texas has approved the books, even though some of the board members wanted to vote on the books one by one.
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I breathed a sigh of relief, until about 30 seconds ago when I found this press release:

Textbook Reformers See Last-Minute Victory in Texas Decision

The Texas State Board of Education voted today to adopt proposed biology textbooks for use in state schools after being promised by the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency that all remaining factual errors in the textbooks will have to be addressed by publishers before the textbooks can be placed in the hands of students.

The Commissioner initially made the pledge at Thursday's board meeting, and then reiterated it strongly before the final vote on Friday. A number of Board members at Friday's meeting indicated that remaining factual errors will now have to be fixed. Board member Don McLeroy praised the Commissioner's pledge, noting that such remaining errors as the claim that human embryos have "gill slits" will need to be addressed by publishers before their books can be distributed to students.

"This is real progress in the cause of science education reform," said Bruce Chapman, Discovery Institute President. "We were already happy that a number of embarrassing errors that overstate the evidence for evolutionary theory were being fixed -- for example, two textbook publishers have proposed removing Haeckel's faked embryo diagrams from the 1800s."
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Now, is this just trying to spin the story to make it appear that the fundies achieved a minor victory? Who determines what the "remaining factual errors" are, and how exactly will they be "addressed?"
 
a_unique_person said:


Hang on, are you saying you think public education is better than private? That would be atypical for you.
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Damn!! You still dont get it, do you need me to spell it out for you?
 
wooshed

Quote from Tony:

"Damn!! You still dont get it, do you need me to spell it out for you?"

It reminds me of some of my fights with my ex-wife.

I guess I still don't get it because she never did tell me.

Bent
 
tedly said:
A very interesting author. Niel Postman, of "Amusing Ourselves to Death" and "The End of Childhood" says some where (and I won't be able to find the quote for a while) that we should teach creation science in the classroom.

But teach it as science.
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This is an appealing notion, and I have had many fantasies about it. The problem, however, is that the public school system almost never teaches science. What it teaches are The Sciences, i.e. the body of information that has come out from science. Almost never will you encounter in a public school the actual teaching of the scientific method, and then, it's usually by maverick teachers. Mostly, it's just dry facts and assertions, with a lot of history thrown in to mollify the humanities types.
 
So, how are we supposed to go about teaching creationism in a way that doesnt sound like "there is some invisible being that manipulates the physical world".
 
pgwenthold said:
And in the article, they list Fritz Schaefer, who is a theoretical chemist from Georgia, so they are stretching to find any support they can.
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Aside from this scientist speaking completely out of his field of expertise, what is his field of expertise? And what in the Hell is "theoretical chemistry"?
 
So, how are we supposed to go about teaching creationism in a way that doesnt sound like "there is some invisible being that manipulates the physical world".
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That is exactly how it should be taught. Some people think that some invisible being is manipulating the physical world because . . . , well, just because. So there.

Point out all the supporting evidence for creationism - which should take no more than about a minute and half. Point out just a few of the inaccuracies that the creationists put forward as evidence. This could take a couple of weeks.

Then move on to something useful.
 
Yahweh said:


Aside from this scientist speaking completely out of his field of expertise, what is his field of expertise?
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Theoretical chemistry



And what in the Hell is "theoretical chemistry"?
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Theoretical chemistry is the field of the study and development of theoretical methods used to predict molecular (i.e. chemical) properties and reactivity. Usually focuses on structure and corresponding properties of molecules, or on predicting the details of chemical reactivity (characterizing what happens when two particles interact with each other, including issues of product distribution and energy proportioning)
 
pgwenthold said:


Excellent. Thank you.

So I'll give them their "Nobel Nominee Fritz Schaefer" and offer Nobel Prize winners:



They don't want to get into an appeal to authority battle, because they are going to lose big time.
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a little off the topic here but in that list of names is "Barbara McClintock" and that just happened to be my maiden name, its kind of neat how familiar things pop out at you. I'm sure she's of no relations to me. still it was cool :)

Ok continue :p
 
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