Bad news in Louisiana

By Kent on June 12, 2008 9:50 AM | 0 Comments | 2 TrackBacks | View blog reactions
I am sorry to report that the Louisiana House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 733 yesterday.1 As the American Institute of Biological Sciences pointed out in a letter distributed to all Louisiana legislators

SB 733 would require that teachers consider and accept non-scientific explanations for natural phenomena, including evolution, the origins of life, and global warming.  Supernatural explanations for these phenomena are not scientifically testable and are not science.
The vote in the House was 94-3.
The legislation singles out "evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" as examples of topics where "open and objective discussion" is needed. Fine. I'm all for open and objective discussion. But how does the legislation propose to ensure that it happens?

C. A teacher shall teach the material presented in the standard textbook supplied by the school system and thereafter may use supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner, as permitted by the city, parish, or other local public school board.
Huh? Now what kind of "open and objective discussion" of scientific theories do you think will happen when it's based on a "supplemental textbook"? There are two possibilities:

  1. The "supplemental textbook" provides additional information and perspective on theories described in the standard textbook and is consistent with the scientific consensus presented in the standard textbook.
  2. The "supplemental textbook" provides a perspective that is inconsistent with the scientific consensus presented in the standard textbook.
Which do you think the Louisiana legislature had in mind? Maybe they want to allow teachers to teach alternatives to the germ theory of disease or to the theory of gravity. There's certainly a broad scientific consensus about those and I'm sure they wouldn't want to stifle "open and objective discussion" of alternatives.
1P.Z. Myers provided the link.

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TrackBack URL: http://darwin.eeb.uconn.edu/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1656

Defend science in Louisiana from Uncommon Ground on June 23, 2008 7:19 AM

I've written before about the "academic freedom" bill in Louisiana. It's now sitting on the desk of Louisiana's governor awaiting his signature. Barbara Forrest has released a letter asking for help convincing the governor asking him to veto the bill.... Read More

Wrist bones and academic freedom from Uncommon Ground on July 14, 2008 5:49 PM

Remember that "academic freedom" bill that passed in Louisiana? Remember what that famously liberal newspaper the Wall Street Journal had to say about such bills in May? Carl Zimmer has the lastest over at The Loom.We're all for open and... Read More

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