People who care about science are not sitting quietly as the Kansas board of education eviscerates the state science curriculum. First the American Association for the Advancement of Science and other organizations refused to participate in the sham hearings that had a foregone conclusion. This is a potentially risky strategy, aiming to deny an aura of respectability to the forces of superstition, but running the risk of giving them free rein to spout their nonsense unchecked. It seemed to work in this case, though, as many commentators were forced to take the initiative to point out how non-scientific the testimony was. (Here are more resources from AAAS.)
Now the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association are refusing to let Kansas use their materials in courses.
Two leading science organizations have denied the Kansas Board of Education permission to use their copyrighted materials as part of the state’s proposed new science standards because of the standards’ critical approach to evolution.
The rebuke from the two groups, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Teachers Association, comes less than two weeks before the board’s expected adoption of the controversial new standards, which will serve as a template for statewide tests and thus have great influence on what is taught.
Kansas is one of a number of states and school districts where the teaching of evolution has lately come under assault. If adopted, its change in standards will be among the most aggressive challenges in the nation to biology’s bedrock theory.
The copyright denial could delay adoption as the standards are rewritten but is unlikely to derail the board’s conservative majority in its mission to require that challenges to Darwin’s theories be taught in the state’s classrooms.
Again, a risky strategy, but potentially a very effective one. These materials are heavily used throughout the standards, so it will create a major headache for the board to remove them. It’s about time that pro-science groups stood up and started using the weapons at their disposal — the other guys don’t fight fair, we need to put everything we can into this battle.
Update: PZ Myers and Josh Rosenau are upset about the sloppy writing in the article. Fair enough.
There is a nice related article, “Is U.S. becoming hostile to science?” at CNN.com. Since this is a physics focused blog, I have to quote one passage:
Other polls show that only around a third of American adults accept the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe, even though the concept is virtually uncontested by scientists worldwide.
We have a lot of work to do out there.
Gavin
How come the schools in Kansas can’t be stripped of their accredidation? I think if kids in Kansas stop being accepted to universities, parents will be up in arms in no time.
I think this strategy may be too risky to be tenable–it is basically daring some private industry to come up the Kansas school board with “replacement” materials–potentially vastly expanding the creationist infrastructure. If they fail in cowing Kansas into position on this one, it will make it all the easier for another state to follow in Kansas’s footsteps.
The religious studies professor in Kansas, Mirecki, who “recently wrote online that he planned to teach intelligent design as mythology in an upcoming course” was beaten up by some rednecks:
http://media.ljworld.com/flattened/mirecki_2005_12_06.html