Re: OT: ID dealt legal blow

Rick Evans:
> Calling ID science, which its purveyors know it is not,
> and grafting it onto a science curriculum is no doubt
> an effort to sow ignorance.

I /could/quibble over semantics -- are they trying to spread ignorance
or trying to "enlighten" us by forcing a certain religious viewpoint on
all of us? -- but I hate quibbling, so I won't.

> Then there is the pop use of ".... is only a theory". Ya
> know like "quantum mechanics" is only a theory, "gravitation
> is only a theory", "thermodynamics is only a theory".

Ah, yes, that's the part that gets me, too. But I have to say that all
in all, scientists are as much to blame for this mess as are religious
extremists. We can't blame scientific ignorance entirely on
creationists; it must also be because scientists are unable to
articulate in terms that the public -- including students -- can
understand 1) what science is and is not and 2) specific knowledge that
science has revealed about the world. Somehow, at some point, it was
decided that everything -- textbooks included -- has to be
entertaining above all else. If we're looking for a brief message to
deliver to school children before (and during) science classes, it
ought to be a statement about what science is and is not -- how the
scientific method works. Repeat it often enough and I think that a
majority of students would graduate from HS understanding what science
is. Rote and repetition are among the most powerful of educational
tools, and the forces of extremism know it better than we do. That's
why they are able to damage a presidential candidate by means of
strident and frequent repetition of lies (about his military service,
e.g.) Well, rote and repition (sadly, discredited among modern
educators) also works for teaching truth, especially in science, where
a sufficiently articulate person could provide proof that what she is
teaching is truth.

But that begins to reveal my ultra-conservative view of education -- I
am so far out of it that I don't understand why the kind of education
that gave a start to Plato, Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, and Einstein
is considered outmoded today. But don't let me get started on that.

And whatever you do, don't bring up the subject of television channels
that purport to educate while running -- over and over and over --
programs that explain how aliens built the pyramids and true accounts
of UFO abductions.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig *dawt* com
.

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