Antiscience and The Hijacking of "Educational Freedom"

Mission accomplished. The anti-evolution "monkey" bill that opens the door to creationism has gone into the law books today. While I have no doubt this bill will be challenged in the courts, it does show that education in America is still very susceptible to being hijacked by theological arrogance.

In a moment where he could have showed great strength, Governor Haslam of Tennessee balked and allowed the bill to go into law without signing it. Such is the case in my state. If the Tennessee house and senate pass it, a law automatically is enacted if the governor allows the deadline (to sign it) to expire.

Haslam here shows no backbone. He has enough reservation to not sign it, but not enough courage to turn the bill down. He got lots of pressure to veto the bill from national academy members and several educational and scientific organizations, as well as a petition that I signed with thousands of other Tennesseeans. It's all so obviously political, I wonder whether it actually works to his advantage. His explanation:

"I do not believe that this legislation changes the scientific standards that are taught in our schools or the curriculum that is used by our teachers. However, I also don’t believe that it accomplishes anything that isn’t already acceptable in our schools."

The legislature got this bill through not by calling it intelligent design, creationism, but through labeling it as "educational freedom". See this CNN video link below from the author of the bill.

http://earlystart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/23/details-of-tennessee-evolution-bill-law-author-on-why-teachers-need-protection-when-discussing-challenges-to-evolution-climate-change/

I give the bill supporters credit. They seem to have come up with the only way to allow religious doctrines in our kid's schools by calling it educational freedom. Watch out. It will be coming to a state near you. Will your kid be the next Nobel Laureate? Not with this stuff going on in the classroom.