Scopes was never the end

[khaosworks]

Georgia may shun 'evolution' in schools
Revised curriculum plan outrages science teachers
By MARY MacDONALD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia students could graduate from high school without learning much about evolution, and may never even hear the word uttered in class.

New middle and high school science standards proposed by state Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox strike references to "evolution" and replace them with the term "biological changes over time," a revision critics say will further weaken learning in a critical subject.

Outraged teachers already have told the state it is undercutting the science education of young Georgians.

"Just like any major issue people need to deal with, you need to know the facts," said David Bechler, head of the biology department at Valdosta State University. A member of the committee that worked on the biology standards, Bechler said he was stunned to learn that evolution was not in the final proposal.

"Whether you believe in creationism or not, evolution should be known and understood by the public," he argued.

I wrote this in high school:

"If you think that the world around you is a simple mechanism handwaved into existence, then you condemn your Creator as being without imagination. Isn't it more awe-inspiring and wondrous to imagine that the Universe began with a huge outrush of energies, exploding outward at unimaginable speeds, space and time coming in being, turning non-existence into existence as it expanded, the laws of physics that would continue to govern all time evermore crystalizing with each passing moment... and all beginning with the words, 'Let there be light'?"