Education

[As one of my colleagues has put it:] “The Grantsburg school board deserves congratulations. Finally, a local school district has adopted the kind of policy we’ve all been recommending for so long. This policy appears to be bullet-proof from a legal perspective. It will be interesting to see how the ACLU/NCSE/Americans United crowd will respond to this policy. It will also be interesting to see how –or if– the legacy media will cover this victory for quality science education.”

‘Teaching the controversy’ in Wisconsin
By Lawrence Hardy
http://www.asbj.com

It will be deer season soon in Northern Wisconsin.

Winter will come, the nights will grow long, and the ice-fishing shacks will appear like matchboxes on the frozen glacial lakes.

The forests that teem with wildlife — sandhill cranes and eagles, grouse and ospreys, thousands of ducks and geese — will seem quieter now that the brief summer is over.

But in the town of Grantsburg, five miles from the winding St. Croix River and the Minnesota border, the turmoil isn’t over, even though school officials say they very much want it to be.

“It’s done. I don’t have anything more to say,” says Cindy Jensen, a board member for the 1,000-student Grantsburg Schools. “Hopefully, the waters are calmer now.”

It’s been almost a year since the school board approved a curriculum that will require science teachers to ask students to think critically about evolution — to “teach the controversy,” as the board puts it. Read More ›

My political views seem to be a matter for discussion at the Panda’s Thumb (go here). In line with their discussion, let me offer the following 1907 quote by Theodore Roosevelt: Theodore Roosevelt on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN “In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who Read More ›

The Muslim uprising of the last week is a challenge to the half century of policy that has brought France to this point. Policies which deprecated European culture, frowned on a national identity, lowered the birthrate, created a welfare state, imported ‘guest workers’, promoted mindless multiculturalism and relied on ‘international’ treaties for protection — all articles of Leftist faith — are now facing the judgment of history; and worse, the verdict of Islam. It would be supremely ironical if the European Left, the ‘vanguard of history’, required for its future survival the very things it had set out to destroy. [Go here for more: http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com.]

CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN FACULTY/STAFF FORUM

THIS WEEK AT CORNELL:

Intelligent Design, Intelligent Discourse:
Reflections on the State of the University Address
A Panel discussion

Friday, November 4, 2:30pm – 4:00 pm
Anabel Taylor Hall Auditorium

In his recent State of the University address, Cornell President Hunter Rawlings discussed at length “the challenge to science posed by religiously-based opposition to evolution, described, in its current form, as ‘intelligent design.'” The address received national media coverage and is now serving as the basis for discussions taking place at the departmental level at Cornell.

The response to the address by the Christian community at Cornell has been mixed. Some Christians favorably disposed toward intelligent design were troubled by the talk; others have no more sympathy for intelligent design than Rawlings, and agreed with the large majority of what he said. Read More ›

This just in from a colleague in Australia: Michael Behe was misquoted on the Aussie Catalyst program as follows. From Australian ABC Catalyst program slamming ID. (Thurs 20th October 2005) According to the ABC “the purpose of the report was to explain what is meant by Intelligent Design and to ask whether it is, in fact, a science.” From Catalyst transcript: “Paul Willis: It’s simply not science. And the ‘claimed’ scientific clout behind Intelligent Design is very small. Prof. Michael Behe: There are not that many people who are actively involved in it. Probably, oh maybe a handful you know, five to ten, something like that. Paul Willis: And this handful of scientists have a good idea just who the Read More ›

From “Science Versus Scientism” by John Silber (appeared in the Nov05 issue of The New Criterion):

The critical question posed for evolutionists is not about the survival of the fittest but about their arrival. Biologists arguing for evolution have been challenged by critics for more than a hundred years for their failure to offer any scientific explanation for the arrival of the fittest. Supporters of evolution have no explanation beyond their dogmatic assertion that all advances are explained by random mutations and environmental influences over millions of years. Read More ›

“Should public schools teach Intelligent Design along with Evolution?” http://www.bu.edu/com/greatdebate Wednesday, November 2, 2005, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tsai Performance Center, Boston University 685 Commonwealth Avenue Visit this page to view a live webcast of the debate: http://realserver.bu.edu:8080/ramgen/encoder/greatdebate.rm The Debate Participants: Affirmative Edward H. Sisson, Esq. Partner, Arnold and Porter, Washington, D.C. Mr. Sisson advised witnesses at the Kansas evolution hearings. Professor Bill Dembski, Ph.D. Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture Nick Barber Broadcast Journalism major, Boston University College of Communication +++++++++++++++++ Negative Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D. Executive Director, National Center for Science Education. Professor James Trefil, Ph.D. Robinson Professor, George Mason University; co-author, Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Neil St. Clair Broadcast Journalism and Political Science major, Boston University Read More ›

Dear Colleagues: NABT has recently received several requests from the media (including CNN television and the Baltimore Sun newspaper) to interview teachers who have been pressured by parents, principals, school boards, etc. either to soften or eliminate the teaching of evolution or to include intelligent design into their curricula. If you have had this experience and would be willing to talk to the press, please reply with your contact information and a brief description of your situation. Thank you very much for your help. NABT is in the process of building a “press corps” to meet the media, and we appreciate your early willingness to step up to represent the association and the profession. Regards, Wayne W. Carley, Ph.D., CAE Read More ›

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE on October 26, 2005

Citizens Have Right to Present Proposed Evolution Policy at School Board Meetings

School Officials Must Answer in Court for Alleged Religious Discrimination

Sacramento, CA In an important legal victory for citizens seeking to improve how evolution is taught in public schools, a federal judge has ruled that California citizens have a Constitutional right under the First Amendment to put proposed evolution policies on the agenda of local school board meetings for public debate and potential adoption, and that school officials who refuse such a request are subject to potential civil rights remedies in federal court. Read More ›

Here’s a note from a colleague in the biological sciences: I’ve been following this issue off and on for about 20 years, but I haven’t been in the thick of it like you. Has it ever been this hot in the scientific community or the public at large? I get the sense we have entered into a completely new realm, one from which there will be no return. It seems the activation energy for a generation-long, painful, Kuhnian shift has been ignited. I don’t know, but I can’t see this going back to the same old status again. When university presidents have to make long-winded appeals for faculty to bring everyone back into line. When dismissal and denigration are seemingly Read More ›

This academic year may be pivotal for Cornell University (a school at which I spent half a year doing research on probability theory back in 1986) as its president just spent nearly the whole of his State of the University Address speaking about intelligent design: Read More ›

www.themonkeytrial.com distinguishes myth and reality.

Every now and again we need to be reminded of past events:

. . . The letter accuses Beckwith of holding church-state positions contrary to the strong stand for separation advocated by J.M. Dawson. Therefore, he should not be a leader of the Dawson Institute, it notes.

“We are troubled because Dr. Beckwith is a fellow of the Discovery Institute. Read More ›

U of I president: teach only evolution in science classes

By JOHN MILLER, Associated Press Writer, The Associated Press October 05, 2005

University of Idaho President Tim White has entered the debate pitting Charles Darwin’s theories of life against religious-based alternatives by forbidding anything other than evolution from being taught in the Moscow school’s life, earth and physical science classes.

White’s edict came as a U of I biologist, Scott Minnich, a supporter of the “intelligent design” theory, was set to testify in a Pennsylvania lawsuit Read More ›

I was out of pocket for a few days — hence the irregularity of postings and moderation of comments. –WmAD