Monday 14 November 2005

Kansas Kreationism

Science, as we commonly know the term, is now no longer to be taught in Kansas.
From the New York Times :
The fiercely split Kansas Board of Education voted 6 to 4 on Tuesday to adopt new science standards that are the most far-reaching in the nation in challenging Darwin's theory of evolution in the classroom.
...
Among the most controversial changes was a redefinition of science itself, so that it would not be explicitly limited to natural explanations.

The vote was a watershed victory for the emerging movement of intelligent design, which posits that nature alone cannot explain life's complexity. John G. West of the Discovery Institute, a conservative research organization that promotes intelligent design, said Kansas now had "the best science standards in the nation."
...
The vote came six years after Kansas shocked the scientific and political world by stripping its curriculum standards of virtually any mention of evolution, a move reversed in 2001 after voters ousted several conservative members of the education board.

A new conservative majority took hold in 2004 and promptly revived arguments over the teaching of evolution. The ugly and highly personal nature of the debate was on display at the Tuesday meeting, where board members accused one other of dishonesty and disingenuousness.

"This is a sad day, not just for Kansas kids, but for Kansas," Janet Waugh of Kansas City, Kan., one of four dissenting board members, said before the vote. "We're becoming a laughingstock not only of the nation but of the world."

Ms. Waugh and her allies contended that the board's majority was improperly injecting religion into biology classrooms. But supporters of the new standards said they were simply trying to open the curriculum, and students' minds, to alternative viewpoints.
Because "Science" in Kansas recognises supernatural, as well as natural, explanations for events. "Because God will it" is now a valid answer to any question of causation, such as why do things fall down, why does a changing electric current create a magnetic field, and why does the horizon appear curved.

Creationism by stealth, and soon Flat Earth theories too - it's allowed now. Pi equal to 3, why not?

So anyone thinking of going to Kansas - here's some stickers (PDF) for you to print out and stick on various devices in your possession.

NOT VALID IN KANSAS
as per order of the Board of
Education, November 8, 2005
Use of this device or substance
may require, imply, and/or endorse
the existence of one or more of the
following: chemistry; evolution;
electromagnetism; gravity;
mathematics; thermodynamics;
education.

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