Saturday, January 12, 2008

Science Wins Showdown in South Carolina, Miller Provides Smackdown

An attempt to weaken science education failed in South Carolina, thanks to the performance of many of the people that showed up to speak on behalf of Ken Miller's "Biology" textbook. The book was in danger of being found guilty of including evolution, and sentenced to rejection, despite being recommended 11-0 by the evaluation committee put together by the very board that was now looking to reject it. You can view the full meeting here. Particularly entertaining are Miller's opening remarks on Video 1, the chair of the review committee on Video 2 making it crystal clear just what she thought of the board wasting her time, and Miller slapping down board member Charles McKinney who made erroneous claims about the content of Miller's book. McKinney can also be seen in Video 5 blathering on about Haeckel, Hitler, and social Darwinism, as embarrasing a public display of ignorance as one can ever hope to see.

It is time to add another dimension to this fight. The American education system is in deep trouble. We have many problems to address. The last thing we need to do is waste time and resources in our school board meetings jabbering with a bunch of yahoos who think people who lived 150-2000 years ago have much to say about the state of science in 2007. These people need to be reminded, in public, that they are wasting the taxpayer's resources. Do you hear me Don McLeroy? Our education tax dollars are stretched far too thin as it is.

No comments: