Posted on 12/11/2002 6:28:08 AM PST by A2J
By WILL SENTELL
wsentell@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau
High school biology textbooks would include a disclaimer that evolution is only a theory under a change approved Tuesday by a committee of the state's top school board.
If the disclaimer wins final approval, it would apparently make Louisiana just the second state in the nation with such a provision. The other is Alabama, which is the model for the disclaimer backers want in Louisiana.
Alabama approved its policy six or seven years ago after extensive controversy that included questions over the religious overtones of the issue.
The change approved Tuesday requires Louisiana education officials to check on details for getting publishers to add the disclaimer to biology textbooks.
It won approval in the board's Student and School Standards/ Instruction Committee after a sometimes contentious session.
"I don't believe I evolved from some primate," said Jim Stafford, a board member from Monroe. Stafford said evolution should be offered as a theory, not fact.
Whether the proposal will win approval by the full state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday is unclear.
Paul Pastorek of New Orleans, president of the board, said he will oppose the addition.
"I am not prepared to go back to the Dark Ages," Pastorek said.
"I don't think state boards should dictate editorial content of school textbooks," he said. "We shouldn't be involved with that."
Donna Contois of Metairie, chairwoman of the committee that approved the change, said afterward she could not say whether it will win approval by the full board.
The disclaimer under consideration says the theory of evolution "still leaves many unanswered questions about the origin of life.
"Study hard and keep an open mind," it says. "Someday you may contribute to the theories of how living things appeared on earth."
Backers say the addition would be inserted in the front of biology textbooks used by students in grades 9-12, possibly next fall.
The issue surfaced when a committee of the board prepared to approve dozens of textbooks used by both public and nonpublic schools. The list was recommended by a separate panel that reviews textbooks every seven years.
A handful of citizens, one armed with a copy of Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species," complained that biology textbooks used now are one-sided in promoting evolution uncritically and are riddled with factual errors.
"If we give them all the facts to make up their mind, we have educated them," Darrell White of Baton Rouge said of students. "Otherwise we have indoctrinated them."
Darwin wrote that individuals with certain characteristics enjoy an edge over their peers and life forms developed gradually millions of years ago.
Backers bristled at suggestions that they favor the teaching of creationism, which says that life began about 6,000 years ago in a process described in the Bible's Book of Genesis.
White said he is the father of seven children, including a 10th-grader at a public high school in Baton Rouge.
He said he reviewed 21 science textbooks for use by middle and high school students. White called Darwin's book "racist and sexist" and said students are entitled to know more about controversy that swirls around the theory.
"If nothing else, put a disclaimer in the front of the textbooks," White said.
John Oller Jr., a professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, also criticized the accuracy of science textbooks under review. Oller said he was appearing on behalf of the Louisiana Family Forum, a Christian lobbying group.
Oller said the state should force publishers to offer alternatives, correct mistakes in textbooks and fill in gaps in science teachings. "We are talking about major falsehoods that should be addressed," he said.
Linda Johnson of Plaquemine, a member of the board, said she supports the change. Johnson said the new message of evolution "will encourage students to go after the facts."
JS,
Amino acids are to life what rubber and iron ore are to automobiles. No one yet has been able to animate those Amino Acids into anything living. Have fun trying.
Regards,
Boiler Plate
"Answer me this: What characteristics would a designed universe exhibit that would allow one to distinguish it from an undesigned universe?
This is a great starting point, and you are not at all unreasonable by insisting that we agree on even such a basic concept at this. Here's Merriam Webster's in cut and paste mode:
DESIGN: to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan : DEVISE, CONTRIVE 2 a : to conceive and plan out in the mind b : to have as a purpose : INTEND c : to devise for a specific function or end 3 archaic : to indicate with a distinctive mark, sign, or name 4 a : to make a drawing, pattern, or sketch of b : to draw the plans for intransitive senses 1 : to conceive or execute a plan 2 : to draw, lay out, or prepare a design
I note with interest that this definition does not make use of the word "design" as an abstract noun. That is to say, it does not cover the word in such a way as to apply it as a characteristic. Do you think we could agree to the following syllogism:
"Eli Whitney designed the Cotton Gin, therefore the Cotton Gin has design."
I need to know if you think I am making improper use of the word design in the syllogism above. We'll take that step, and then figure out where to go from there, including a list of characteristics I think would be evidence of design. Okay?
Thanks.
First, our Founders didn't write this.
Secondly, how can the ability to reason endow unalienable rights? The ability to reason is far more often used to steal another's rights than to defend them.
Tpaine,
By removing "by the creator", the sentence begs the question by whom or by what are all men endowed? As well as why is it self evident? If by evolution and chance then it is certainly not evident at all.
Regards,
Boiler Plate
Sure it is. That's why the article that started this thread was written, that's why it was posted, and that's why it has generated a lively discussion by all concerned.
I hope you will not dismiss my arguments as mere "word games" and think you have adequately addressed the issue. Just as science must wrestle with propositions and logic to determine the truth or falsehood of theories and laws, so those who engage in debates about the validity of science must use these tools and abide by them. To cry "word games" and think a position has been either advanced or debunked is lazy dialectics.
I must admit my comment was overreaching with respect to the bigger argument, but it was addressed to a specific individual who seems to think creationism is prima facie non-science, non-intellectual, etc. In fact I would venture to say it is a recurring theme around here.
Fitness isn't a moral concept. Moral concepts tend to be ex ante whereas fitness is ex post.
The total energy of the universe equals zero. Some areas of space borrow energy from other areas of space, but it all evens out in the end.
I also don't know if you can say there was a cause to the Big Bang. Cause and effect is dependent (as far as we know) on chronology. A cause by definition occurs prior to the actual event. "Prior to the Big Bang" is a null concept. We have no way, and based on my understanding, will never have a way to gather any information about it. If you choose to call the first cause "God" go right ahead. Few are likely to argue, and neither of you will be able to prove the other wrong.
It is evident to me that rights are not inherent but granted by men to their fellows (and consequently themselves). How can they be inherent in an individual when fundamentally they are about relationships between people?
Thank you for advocating that Scientologists version of creation deserves equal time with the Christian version. Ditto for the Hindu, Yoruba, Shinto, Shiite, Ossetian, and Parsee versions.
Clearly it is not non-intellectual but it is definitely non-science, at least as it is practiced by those intellectuals.
Don't Forget the "Cargo Cult" version. Fair's fair...
;-)
I mean, why not use the Scientologist version?
No. You are already assuming "design." In fact, the ID'ers have failed show "design" as of yet.
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