“In all fields of science, analyze, evaluate, and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental observation and testing, including examining all sides of scientific evidence of those explanations so as to encourage critical thinking by the students.”
Isn’t this more a defeat for Creationists?
My thoughts exactly. How does “In all fields of science, analyze, evaluate, and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental observation and testing, including examining all sides of scientific evidence of those explanations so as to encourage critical thinking by the students.” represent a victory since are no experimental observation or testing in creationism?
Not on your life!
Anything that advances the "scientific method" defeats the idiotic "theory of evolution." The evidence stands strongly against evolution, but discussing that evidence in class has been forbidden. Now it comes out in the open, in Texas at least.
Maybe not in the short term. What'll happen in the short term is that creationist parents will send their kids to school with things like the "10 questions to ask your biology teacher"--questions that any biology teacher should be able to answer but will have to spend unnecessary time on. But the good teachers will adapt and start preparing lesson plans that will show why "empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental observation and testing" point to evolution, while creationism and ID are notably lacking in such support. So in the long run, I don't think creationists will be happy with the results.
As a journalist who has had to report on the issue.....it all depends upon how it is interpreted.
Initially this was a defeat for the ID side. However, as it went on, it was clear they wanted to replace strengths and weaknesses with something more cryptic.
Frankly, who knows what the new standards mean. Both sides aren’t exactly thrilled since the ID side doesn’t have anything really tough in there, but then again the evolution side thinks this is just code for bringing in creationism. As angry as they are about it, it seems that they are more upset than the ID/creationist side.
However, who exactly has lost the most will be determined by how the standard is applied in the classroom......which ultimately will come by how the state test writers interpret it.
Shhhhh.....don't remind the creationists that we have a mind to think.
>Isn’t this more a defeat for Creationists?
Why do you think that is the case?
The political situation in Texas is kinda weird. Yes, this is a defeat for "Creationists", but it is a defeat for the "atheists and evolutionists" as mentioned in the article as well. The issue that people don't understand is that those words don't mean quite the same thing in Texas as a reasonable person would assume.
There are those of us who look at the fossil record (many of us first hand; Texas is a great place for fossil hunting) and reason that the evidence suggests evolution from simpler to more complex forms. We don't "believe" in evolution, we just think it presents the most probable explanation for how life as it exists now came to be.
There is another group, however, that is quite a bit more dogmatic. They "believe" in evolution. Many of these people don't have a clue about the actual science; they just want Darwinian evolution to be taught as fact and any alternatives to be suppressed. Things that don't quite fit their Darwinian hypothesis (like the Cambrian explosion, where the massive speciation doesn't fit Darwin's pre-DNA explanation) aren't relevant to science instruction in their opinion. To these people, the purpose of natural history and biology classes isn't to educate the young, but to indoctrinate them. They desperately want to point to the fossil record and say "...and this clearly shows there is no God".
Maybe these sorts of people only exist in Texas? If so, count yourself lucky. But try not to think of Texas as a state full of Luddites just because the media stories all imply that this is a binary conflict between "science" and "creationism". There are simply a lot more than two sides to this issue, and the not all the "evolutionists" are on the side of scientific integrity.
Regardless of whether Creationism is true, there are serious problems with evolutionary theory.
I do see it as a “win” for intelligent design.
Even if not, I do not see how it could be anything but a “win” for science.
There is no good sense in silencing debate and shaming dissent.
For “Science” to be anything other than a blind religion, its results, methods, and the motives of its followers, must be scrutinized at all times, or it will be used as tool of tyranny, to dictate behavior to the masses of laypersons. “You can’t argue witch Science! Shut up, and sit down, plebe!”
There is nothing inherently noble about a scientist, except that which is inherently noble in all people.
But scientists often lay claim to a certain objectivity that, in their own esteem, places them above reproach. They are delusional in their capacity to believe that they are free from bias, even in the interpretation of hard scientific data.
“Isn’t this more a defeat for Creationists?” [excerpt]Not for pro-science Creationists.