“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
— Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride
Via Pharyngula, we learn that the Louisiana House has approved a bill about science teaching.
Supporters say the bill — titled the “Louisiana Science Education Act” — is designed to promote critical thinking, strengthen education and help teachers who are confused about what’s acceptable for science classes.
.. in essence, opening the floodgates to all sorts of religiously and politically motivated bull to be shoveled into science class. All of this would be done in the name of “critical thinking”.
Could someone please inform lawmakers that filling science class up with nonsense and false controversies is not a good way to promote critical thinking? Thanks!
So how do we know this is an anti-science bill? Anti-science bills are always obsessed with evolution – an observable fact of nature. From the bill (SB 733):
The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, upon request of a city, parish, or other local public school board, shall allow and assist teachers, principals, and other school administrators to create and foster an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.
I’m not the first person to wonder this, but why is it that the atomic theory is never subject to such scrutiny in state legislatures? It’s certainly harder to see atoms than it is to see evidence for evolution.