Access Research NetworkOhio’s State Board of Education has placed a 13-word sentence in its proposed 10th grade science teaching standards.
Many scientists, in Ohio and nationally, are up in arms over this sentence, and we Ohioans are discovering that if these 13 words are allowed to stand, we will become the laughing stock of the country, there will be an immediate brain drain from our state, our economy will crumble, students will no longer receive an adequate education and apparently life as we know it will end.
Ohio media are being bombarded with arguments against these 13 words. Science organizations are sending letters to Governor Taft imploring him to reign in the board members, who are being denigrated without mercy. Some Ohio scientists are even complaining in the national media.
Several Ohio newspapers have editorialized that if these 13 words aren’t removed it will be at best embarrassing for our state, and at worst will open the floodgates of non-scientific religious faith-based right-wing fundamentalist political thinking that will utterly ruin our educational system and do irreparable harm to our students, who, one must assume, are thought to be too dense to think for themselves.
So, you ask, what are these 13 words? They are:
“DESCRIBE HOW SCIENTISTS CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE AND CRITICALLY ANALYZE ASPECTS OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY.”
Are you shocked? Terrified? Suddenly fearful that a 10th grader might see them? Wondering if the board of education is made up of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who want to plunge Ohio back into the academic Stone Age?
Or, like me, are you wondering what philosophical agenda these critics are pushing? That perhaps these folks are not quite as objective and not quite as value-free as they would have us believe?
For example, let’s take a look at Lawrence Krauss, chair of the physics department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and an opponent of letting our students objectively study evolution in their science classrooms.
On February 12th a commentary by Dr. Krauss was broadcast on National Public Radio, including NPR stations in Ohio. He argued that our students should not be allowed to objectively study evolution, that terrible consequences will occur in Ohio if the current language in the standards is not struck down, and generally badmouthed our state. Frankly, I was embarrassed and dismayed by the mis- and dis-information being spouted by someone wearing the cloak of scientific objectivity.
Interestingly, however, on Professor Krauss’s own academic web site
http://www.phys.cwru.edu/faculty/?krauss
he states that there are many aspects of evolutionary theory that are incomplete, open to various interpretations, and require more study, as quoted here:
“While the past twenty years or so has seen incredible progress in our understanding of fundamental interactions, several key puzzles still remain. The standard model of particle physics remains consistent with all existing experimental data, but is by itself not complete. The masses of elementary particles are described by arbitrary parameters in this model and the symmetries of the theory are not fully understood . . . the standard model of cosmology, the FRW Big Bang expansion, is clearly incomplete . . . we do not understand the nature of, nor in fact the present values of various fundamental cosmological parameters . . . Key questions include . . . What phase transitions occurred in the Early Universe, and what observable consequences might they have for the present universe? . . . Remnants of the very early universe . . . may provide direct probes of the physics relevant at the earliest moments of the big bang expansion . . . Among the specific areas (upon which) my research has focused are . . . stellar evolution....”
Professor Krauss is obviously engaged in investigating and critically analyzing aspects of evolutionary theory.
So what possible reason could he have for not wanting our students to simply describe how he continues to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory?
On his web site he further states, “As we search for the answers to these questions it is incumbent upon theorists to explore all avenues available in the effort to uncover new constraints which can help guide our thinking.”
Okay, makes sense to me.
But can someone explain why this scientist, out of the other side of his mouth, on national radio stations, is so vociferously lobbying against allowing our students to “search for the answers to these questions?”
Carl Sagan, an internationally-known and ardent evolutionist who was instrumental in shaping our popular views of science, devised what he called a “baloney detector” which could be used to identify and ferret out bad science and illogical thinking.
Perhaps the critics of our education standards aren’t really worried about doing good science in Ohio.
Instead, perhaps, they are worried about some 10th grader getting his or her hands on a baloney detector and pointing it at the theory of evolution.
Darwin forbid that our students explore all avenues available in an effort to uncover new constraints which can help guide their thinking.
.........................
Chris Hogg is a freelance writer, researcher and speaker who has studied theories of evolution for over 20 years. He lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a life-long, 62-year resident of that state. He says that he is still waiting for someone to demonstrate, by application of the scientific method, any instance of the operation of the macro-evolution process, in the same way that, for example, the operation of gravity can be demonstrated.
.........................
Christian D. Hogg
208 South Westmoor Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43204
614-274-9126
File Date: 2.26.04
This data file may be reproduced in its entirety
for non-commercial use.
A return link to the Access Research Network web site would be
appreciated.
Documents on this site which have been reproduced from a previous publication are copyrighted through the individual publication. See the body of the above document for specific copyright information.