[longshadow]

I drafted an amendment to an education bill that emphasizes how students studying controversial issues in science, such as biological evolution, should be allowed to learn about competing interpretations.

Okay, shall we also teach astrology next to Astronomy?

Shall we teach numerology in Math class?

Shall we let the Flat Earth Society have equal time in geography class?

Shall Ebonics be given as much time as English grammer?

Shall we give Nazis time to teach "Holocaust Denial" in History class?

Shall we provide class time for the proponents of the Green Cheese Theory of the Moon?

If we must give "equal time" to every flaky alternative clutched by every fringe group, there will be no time for the students to learn anything remotely resembling a coherent concept of reality.

[father_elijah]

Very cute -- but there is much more to intelligent design theory than than say the Flat Earth Society. The largest problem is that ID theory requires a nexus with Philosophy, and most of the scientistic establishment wishes to live in a tidy divorce from the rest of human experience and learning.

[PatrickHenry]

If we must give "equal time" to every flaky alternative clutched by every fringe group, there will be no time for the students to learn anything remotely resembling a coherent concept of reality.

The entire issue illustrates that the educational "elites" in the US are among the dumbest, least-educated groups in the entire country. I'm entirely confident that most of them don't understate the issue, and if you laid it out for them, they wouldn't be able to follow it. What this really demonstrates is that it's time for "public" education (that is, government-run education) to be abolished. Socialism is never a good idea, in education or anywhere else.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Shall we provide class time for the proponents of the Green Cheese Theory of the Moon?

Haven't you heard, this theory has been refuted. The moon is actually made of half blue cheese and half yellow cheese. It only appears green at a distance. (Courtesy of Lucy to Charlie Brown.)