http://ncse.com/news/2010/06/antievolution-bills-die-south-carolina-005558
Evolution has been a big hitting issue lately in schools. With the religious support of creationism and questioning of evolution, many people have begun to question why evolution is taught as fact. Is it against the principles of intellectual and academic freedom to support evolution but deny creationism?
This article is about how an anti-evolution bill lost on its way to being enacted. If it had been passed, it would force schools to see if their current science teachings talked in an unfavorable way towards any religion's scientific teachings, and also evaluate in what light evolution is taught.
In the realm of the library; I feel that it is appropriate to have material on creationism and evolution (if your collection permits it), because that is what intellectual freedom is about. But what about in public schools? Creationism is a religious belief. Can we therefore marry church and state to teach religious beliefs? We allow religious freedom, but can we then stress a certain religion in public schools and not another?
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Two things about this idea bothered me. First, I agree with you that it's appropriate to have both sides of the coin presented in materials. In my opinion, I don't see why the ideas can't be presented even in public schools. You can present them in a way of, "this is a school of thought" and allow the children to ponder on it for themselves.
ReplyDeleteSecond, the 873 bill would have required "examine all curriculum in use in this State..." to be washed of any religious viewpoint. That bothers me, because what about the Catholic schools that are not publicly funded? If a parent wants his or her child to receive and education that is religiously based, and especially is willing to pay for it, then I feel that's what the parent should get.
Creationism vs Evolution in “Science” textbooks is the question. I would hope (assume) most school libraries have lots of creation stories from many different cultures. The question is …is creationism science? Should creationism be included in a science textbook and does the State or Federal government have the right to determine what is in science textbooks?
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