State panel backs disputed lesson, infuriates supporters of evolution
Columbus - The State Board of Education gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a 10th-grade biology lesson that scientists say could put "intelligent design" in Ohio classrooms.
Setting aside an impassioned plea from the National Academy of Sciences, the board voted 13-4 to declare its intent to adopt the "Critical Analysis of Evolution" lesson next month.
The academy warned that doing so would give a green light to teaching intelligent design, the idea that life is so complex that a higher being must have created it.
The disputed lesson plan has thrust Ohio back into the middle of a national fight over how to best teach the origins and development of life on Earth to public school children.
That fight is between supporters and critics of Charles Darwin's theory that life evolved through natural processes, a battle that has raged since the "monkey trial" of biology teacher John Scopes nearly 80 years ago.
"It's a sad day for science in Ohio," said Patricia Princehouse, who teaches biological evolution at Case Western Reserve University. "This opens up the reputation of Ohio scientists to ridicule nationally and internationally."
http://www.cleveland.com/debate/inde...5549160490.xml
You can review this disputed lesson plan here:
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/academic_...0Evolution.pdf
What is interesting is that in the plan, teachers are given weblinks for students to use when researching the "critical analysis" of evolution. One of the links is:
www.origins.org
Which, setting aside the fact that it is a site arguing for Intelligent Design, has a link to
www.leaderu.com -- a site that is part of the "telling the truth project." What is the "telling the truth project?" Let's take a look:
"Telling the Truth is an ongoing Internet-based strategy pioneered by Christian Leadership Ministries (CLM), designed to pool the best of Christian scholarship and propel it to a global audience. Working together, CLM and our WebPartners present unique resources to a lost and confused world. From homosexuality to origins to theology and apologetics--millions of Internet users are confronted with thousands of messages from a biblical worldview. Through Telling the Truth sites, the gospel takes its rightful place among thought-provoking ideas related to today's burning issues. "
http://www.clm.org/ttt/what.html
Can somebody explain to me again why ANY of this should be part of a public school education?
aV
