Re: Creationists win the schools in New Mexico
Susan (rgq101@uriacc.uri.edu)
29 Aug 1996 17:52:06 GMT
mycol1@unm.edu (Bryant) wrote:
>I want to make sure that this thread's readers are made aware that I
>(accidentally) exaggerated the gravity of the situation in NM.
>Creationism is *not* mandated by the new school board
>guidelines--evolution has simply been removed as a requirement for
>biology classes. The issue of creationism is "left open" to the
>individual teachers.
>
>Bryant
>
Thanks for the clarification! Still pretty disturbing, though. It will
be interesting to see if it withstands constitutional challenge. Since
it doesn't actually mandate a religious idea being taught, this Supreme
Court could well see it as not in violation of the separation of church
and state.
It's hard to imagine how one could teach a biology course without
evolution. "Creationists" actually covers a wide variety of beliefs and
shades of meaning. Some acknowledge evolution but don't believe that it
applies to humans. Some misrepresent it as only applying to change over
time, but reject the idea of speciation. Others believe in a strict
biblical interpretation of everything. If people are really going to do
whatever they feel like in teaching, including potential creationists,
then there are going to be some pretty confused kids coming out of that
school system-- not just because of the creationist thing, but because of
the lack of guidelines about what is taught!
I just can't wait to start getting them in my intro physical anthropology
classes...(sigh)
Susan
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"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps."
-- Emo Phillips
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