Posted on 03/23/2005 10:48:58 PM PST by Quick1
TALLAHASSEE — Republicans on the House Choice and Innovation Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to pass a bill that aims to stamp out “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in the classrooms of Florida’s universities.
The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, passed 8-to-2 despite strenuous objections from the only two Democrats on the committee.
The bill has two more committees to pass before it can be considered by the full House.
While promoting the bill Tuesday, Baxley said a university education should be more than “one biased view by the professor, who as a dictator controls the classroom,” as part of “a misuse of their platform to indoctrinate the next generation with their own views.”
The bill sets a statewide standard that students cannot be punished for professing beliefs with which their professors disagree. Professors would also be advised to teach alternative “serious academic theories” that may disagree with their personal views.
According to a legislative staff analysis of the bill, the law would give students who think their beliefs are not being respected legal standing to sue professors and universities.
Students who believe their professor is singling them out for “public ridicule” – for instance, when professors use the Socratic method to force students to explain their theories in class – would also be given the right to sue.
“Some professors say, ‘Evolution is a fact. I don’t want to hear about Intelligent Design (a creationist theory), and if you don’t like it, there’s the door,’” Baxley said, citing one example when he thought a student should sue.
(Excerpt) Read more at alligator.org ...
Looks like Florida is looking to bring in more foreigners to maintain their healthcare.
So the wiccan students could sue for equal time. And the Muslims.
In some ways, I'm regretting ever moving here if it wasn't for a very good job as an R&D chemist in industry. What you say about education is very, very true in Florida. It is an afterthought on the part of both local and state governments. I lived in lakeland for about 6 years and the general, historical thought of the school board was that teachers were the wives of wealth professionals who taught for the love of kids. They didn't need good salaries commensurate with the job requirements because their husbands supported them. That attitude still exists here, as well as the "they don't work for a full year so why should they get paid the same as someone who does. So you politicians better not raise my taxes for education!" people
My daughter graduated from what was considered the second bet high school in the country. It was in Florida. She passed enought AP exams to earn two years of college credit, and she wasn't anywhere near the best student.
Unfortunately, her father can't type or spell.
I'm sure you have proof for this claim.
http://www.csh.k12.ny.us/highschool/data/TheTopHighSchools.htm
Unfortunately for you, not in gainesville. Still, I think my daughter's public school is better than the private school I attended.
Upon further looking, yes. You are correct.
Still though, where are the fossil records of groups of humans migrating to China from Africa? Yes, we know about the caucasians. But the Yellow River gave rise to settlements well before The Caucasians started visiting them.
When/how did the Chinese get there? Why are they SO different (physically) from the other races? (I use "race" to simplify the arguement) We can see that Africans look like Semites look like Indians. Where did this change in skin tone and bridged noses come in? Why does it effect them universally? Why are caucasians the only ones capable of getting red hair genetically?
If we all came from africa, wouldn't red hair be possible in all the races? Surely there are mild climates in Africa and India that would allow for lighter colorign of people.
You're right when you're right. And you're right.
This may be "called forth" by people looking for a lawsuit to keep them from working, but it is not meant to credit or discredit either evolution or ID.
It DOES support that if a student can argue for ID, they would be in the right to get the grade the class suck-up gets.
I think this means (even if you do disagree with ID) that most of the IDers here would get A's according to the level of research and time put into arguements for their point of view.
He doesn't like to offer actual evidence. Instead, he'll tell you to "look it up."
They MIGHT try to make a case in court, but it does not suggest that they would be either in the right to do so, or backed by this law.
It really doesn't change that.
It DOES say that if Wiccans and Muslims can make a valid arguement for their ideas, then they would be able to keep a good grade.
The recently-out-of-Africa theory isn't as widely accepted as you might think. I don't think most palaeontologists in China accept it. I suspect part of that is racism, but still, not everyone agrees that the Homo erectus populations in Asia, which undoubtedly got there prior to 100,000 years ago, were entriely replaced by recent migrants from Africa.
Ok, so my conclussion was right, I was just questioning the wrong part of it.
I can live with that (and learn)
I think many of my college instructors discouraged discussion, and I went to a small college that featured small class size and discussion groups. On the surface we had open discussion, even in Biology.
I recall being broken up into small groups to discuss, What is Life? What I mostly remember about that exercise is that no one had the knowledge needed to discuss the issue. The people in my group were not even aware of the fundamental difference between a virus and a bacterium. In science, there is a minimum level of competence required to discuss challenges to orthodoxy. That is made clear every day on FR, where challengers to evolution cannot even correctly state the theory they oppose, and hve little knowledge of the content or history of biology.
The best classes I have ever had were taught by opinionated professors who were clear about their expectations and demanded answers that conformed to clear guidelines. The worst classes were taught by people who pretended to be open minded.
"makes various conclusions about the past history of the universe based on observation of distant stars, galaxies and so forth."
And how accurately predictable are they?
Just asking. (Hint, it's the most frequently revised aspect of science for a reason-hence the "Pardon or Dust" sign)
(My summary arguement, for the skim-readers) The amount of arguement required to explore this field keeps it almost entirely in physics class rooms. Not basic Sci. And this is as it should be until a consensus is reached. The same should apply to evolution and ID with their respective branches.
"I certainly wouldn't call papers ID-supportive just because they talk about forms or complexity. The talkorigins link that you sent includes a total of one clearly identified ID paper."
I'll give you that. However, it is still one more than you said existed. The others are also used by IDists to support their assertions. Peer-reviewed papers are just as a part of the ID outlook as the Evo outlook.
"No need to be condescending."
Wasn't trying to be. Sorry if I came across that way. Like I said, I do it all the time. It IS useful. I look at you as an equal intellectually (I mean hey, you're a conservative. You beat millions of others, right?)
"That is made clear every day on FR, where challengers to evolution cannot even correctly state the theory they oppose, and hve little knowledge of the content or history of biology."
Your post could have gone on without this jab.
I truly resent being called ignorant. Especially in response to my post in an otherwise kind response.
Oh yeah, and I had caught the "Pangea" bit. See the responses to the post you responded to.
On the contrary. I find that the tools we use to measure the reactions are simply extending our senses. It would still be an observation to me.
The machines we use gather data and send us confermation of said data. Electron readers are just high-tech microscopes.
We can't do that with evolution though. We can't sit a cat under a microscope and observe the species change. We just haven't yet.
Someday if we do gainthat ability, I'd be willing to listen and place a concise summary of confirmed facts about evolution in an intro Sci class.
Until then, it belongs in Bio and Anthropology classes.
"This bill pertains to the university environment where astophysics is taught. Based on this, a young earth creationist could sue the school for not teaching creationism in a PhD astrophysics course. "
The student was already "able to sue the school" for any number of reasons.
This bill simply means that a YEC can go to the classroom and make an arguement for his beliefs in the class. If it holds scientific merit (mostly it will not) the kid gets a good grade.
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