More on Kansas Dumbassery

(I’ve done so many entries on the whole “evolution in schools” thing that you’d think I would be getting tired of it. But, no. I am fuelled by sweet, sweet rage.)

Lots of more rage after the jump.

Dan Gilmour points to the Guardian article on the Kansas decision, and has this to say:

Choosing faith over science: Now there’s an education policy.

The Kansas School Board and its defenders can couch this any way they like. They can’t disguise what they’ve done. They’re deliberately choosing to inject religious faith into science classes.

If America loses its pre-eminence — something that seems more and more likely given the way things are going — historians will mark her decline by citing events like this one.

Greg Burgas points to an AP article on the decision, which includes this quote from the last time Kansas pulled this dumbassery:

In 1999, the Kansas board adopted science standards that eliminated most references to evolution.

Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould said that was akin to teaching “American history without Lincoln.” Bill Nye, the “Science Guy” of children’s television, called it “harebrained” and “nutty.” And a Washington Post columnist imagined God saying to the Kansas board members: “Man, I gave you a brain. Use it, OK?”

Paul “Pharyngula” Myers points to a more detailed MSNBC article and then has the expected cutting commentary:

For the next few years, a lot of schoolkids are going to get taught slippery twaddle—instead of learning what scientists actually say about biology, they’re going to get the phony pseudoscience of ideologues and dishonest hucksters. And that means the next generation of Kansans are going to be a little less well informed, even more prone to believing the prattlings of liars, and the cycle will keep on going, keep on getting worse.

The article he references includes this quote:

In addition, the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.

I love his reponse:

Rewriting the definition of science seems a rather presumptuous
thing for a school board to do, I think, especially when their new
definition is something contrary to what working scientists and major
scientific organizations say is science. As for removing the limitation
to natural phenomena, what do they propose to add? Ghosts, intuition,
divine revelation, telepathic communications from Venusians? It’s
simply insane.

So, while it appears Kansas is lost, there is some good news from Pennsylvania. No news from the trial, of course, since the judge is not expected to rule until next January, but the elections yesterday blasted out all intelligent design proponents from the school board.

All eight Dover, Pennsylvania school board members up for re-election have been booted out after introducing intelligent design to the science classroom. In their place are a number of those who campaigned against the policy.

Here’s the Wikinews rundown, which provides more detail and links.

If you look at the actual results, it’s pretty funny–it’s a clean Democratic sweep, and all the Republicans were in support of ID. You go, PA! (Now call up Kansas and give them a stern talking to.)