Commentary on the recent KS school board decision

[treeskin]

These were posted on the campus listserve. Not much response on the list so far, but I'm very amused.


Now that the Kansas School Board has spoken,I think we need to adjust our science curriculum here. Of course, some course titles need changing:

1. Principles of Chemistry to PRINCIPLES OF ALCHEMY.
2. Principles of Biology to MYTHS OF DARWIN
3. Principles of Cellular and Molecular Biology to WHAT ARE THOSE TINY THINGS?
4. Human Anatomy to NAKEDNESS IS JUST PLAIN WRONG
5. Environmental Science to GLOBAL WARMING? PSHAW !
6. Laboratory Safety to WHAT'S A LAB?
7. General Nutrition to DON'T WORRY. GOD WILL PROVIDE
8. Ecology to CONNECTIONS? DON'T BELIEVE THEORIES.
9. General Genetics to AMINO ACID? WHAT'S THAT?
10. Geography to WHY THE SUN TRAVELS AROUND THE EARTH

A later posting offered:
INTELLIGENT DESIGN FOR DUMMIES
AMINO ACID--JUST SAY NO
AIDS--GOD'S PUNISHMENT FOR GAYS
for Anthropology: WHY GOD MADE WHITE PEOPLE BETTER
for Electronics: LITTLE BITS OF GOD MOVING THROUGH THE WIRES
for Software: ITS TOO COMPLICATED TO BE CREATED BY MAN--HOW GOD DESIGNED MICROSOFT


Let the sarcasm flow :)

Comments

from The Scientific American

[iarraidh.livejournal.com]

http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=kansas_where_ignorant_is_the_new_educate&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Kansas, Where "Ignorant" is the New "Educated"
Kansas: People say that it's flat. But to me it seems to be going downhill.

Somewhere right now in Kansas, there is a little child who may grow up to be a brilliant scientist. She may make fantastic contributions to science, and future generations may remember her as one of the brightest intellectual lights of her time. But if so, it will be despite the public education that she received in Kansas, because today six dimwits on the state's Board of Education voted to lower the standards for how science is taught.

Needless to say, they don't think they are lowering the standards--to the contrary, they think they are raising them. That's how you can tell they are dimwits.

If George Orwell were alive, I think he'd agree this development is not only good but doubleplusgood. Because just teaching kids the right answers is an unbearable infringement on academic freedom. Just think of the advantages that those Kansas students will have when they go up against their peers from other states and other parts of the world, who only know the accepted facts and theories and think that logical consistency is desirable in science....

Re: from The Scientific American

[treeskin.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

I think I'm going to forward that bit of commentary to my mom, too.