Letters to the Editor
geologybelle
Published Letters: 2
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Education is the Answer
[Read the article: Inside the Creation Museum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The only way to combat ignorance is through education. Most science educators in our schools have never had a college-level course (not to mention pre-college!!) in evolution. Many science educators never need to go beyond entry-level college science courses to become certified to teach science. At my institution, science educators for elementary school (K-6th grade) need 3 college courses in science: one in geography, one in bioscience, and one “Other”. This is no basis from which to teach children about modern science, much less the complexities and multiple lines of evidence that support evolution.
If the teachers who teach our children do not know nor understand the basis for the theory (or even what “scientific theory” means), how can we expect anyone else to? Kids don’t learn it in school because their teachers don’t know it. Most Americans only get through high school, and those that do go to college can take one or two entry-level science courses and never learn anything about evolution.
It’s well-past time to start holding Teachers’ Colleges accountable for making their students take so many “how to teach” courses and not enough “what to teach” courses. (What a turf war this could start!)
We do seem to be going backwards, towards more ignorance. Even while top-level researchers push out the edge of the knowledge envelope, the average American seems to know less and less. Less history (remember the Spanish-American war and how the press whipped people up to participate? Any recent analogies here?), less science, less everything. These are scary times, but the answer is not to whip up patriotic fever or bury our heads into 2,000-year old texts. Educate, educate, educate! Movies, tv, radio, newspapers, magazines, destinations (theme parks, museums) – educate any way you can!
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The Real Record no one's picked up
[Read the article: The mighty, scary press corps ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is buzzing about the internet, but completely absent from Scary Mainstream Media:
http://out.smashits.com/to/http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/03/about-sarah-palin/
..documents the fiscal mess she left Wasilla in, from a debt-free town to one $22 million in debt because of the construction of a sports complex, now a money pit.
And from Gloria Steinem in the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,7915118.story
"She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling."
Thanks to Glenn for hitting back hard. Let's hope the Dems follow.