Intelligent Voting and the Kansas School Board
I suppose I should tackle this issue at least once between now and the August first primaries. As anyone who follows politics knows, the ultra-conservative majority of our Kansas School Board has made us an international laughing stock with several of its recent actions.
First there was the introduction of Intelligent Design (ID) as a viable scientific theory, on a par with evolution. Then there was the changing of the definition of science from "seeking natural explanations..." to "seeking logical explanations...". If that wasn't enough, just to add insult to injury, the board voted to make sex education "opt-in" rather than "opt-out".
ID has a place in our public schools. Unfortunately for conservatives, it is certainly not in science class. Most in the mainstream, including myself, have no problem whatsoever with teaching ID in a philosophy or comparative religion class. It does not qualify for science, however, since it advances the idea of a supernatural being. Proponents say it's just a theory that there was intelligent design in our universe. For some reason the logic train derails at that point, because they don't seem to understand that following this line of thought, there must be an intelligent designer. By definition, this has to be God, or, I guess, just someone else who is capable of creating a universe.
Science does not seek to find logical explanations for things. That's philosophy's job. Science as a discipline is subordinate to philosophy because it is limited only to natural phenomena, whereas philosphy is not. Changing one word in our definition of science does have an enormous impact on what ends up in the classroom.
As for sex-ed, once again, we're paying for Connie Morris' past. In her book, "From the Darkness: One Woman's Rise to Nobility", Morris talks about being sexually abused as a kid, and later her promiscuity and expiramentation with drugs. Of course this was followed by a conversion to Christianity, which is not uncommon. Like most in her position, she went from one extreme to the other, but evidentally her pre-occupation wtih sex still pervades her thoughts. Hence the entire state must now go out of their way to have their kids tought basic biology and disease prevention in sex-ed.
There was a time when religion ruled the world. It was called the dark ages. Let's not go back to that time. Instead, ultra-conservatives like Morris need to be thrown out, and the sooner the better. If you live in a district that has an incumbent extremist, make sure you're registered to vote, and vote AGAINST them in the primary. I am in Sue Gamble's district, and I believe she is one of the few voices of reason on the board.. (oh, and I can't vote in the primaries anyway as a registered Libertarian, small detail).
Get out and vote, and let's restore our acedemic standards to the modern age.
First there was the introduction of Intelligent Design (ID) as a viable scientific theory, on a par with evolution. Then there was the changing of the definition of science from "seeking natural explanations..." to "seeking logical explanations...". If that wasn't enough, just to add insult to injury, the board voted to make sex education "opt-in" rather than "opt-out".
ID has a place in our public schools. Unfortunately for conservatives, it is certainly not in science class. Most in the mainstream, including myself, have no problem whatsoever with teaching ID in a philosophy or comparative religion class. It does not qualify for science, however, since it advances the idea of a supernatural being. Proponents say it's just a theory that there was intelligent design in our universe. For some reason the logic train derails at that point, because they don't seem to understand that following this line of thought, there must be an intelligent designer. By definition, this has to be God, or, I guess, just someone else who is capable of creating a universe.
Science does not seek to find logical explanations for things. That's philosophy's job. Science as a discipline is subordinate to philosophy because it is limited only to natural phenomena, whereas philosphy is not. Changing one word in our definition of science does have an enormous impact on what ends up in the classroom.
As for sex-ed, once again, we're paying for Connie Morris' past. In her book, "From the Darkness: One Woman's Rise to Nobility", Morris talks about being sexually abused as a kid, and later her promiscuity and expiramentation with drugs. Of course this was followed by a conversion to Christianity, which is not uncommon. Like most in her position, she went from one extreme to the other, but evidentally her pre-occupation wtih sex still pervades her thoughts. Hence the entire state must now go out of their way to have their kids tought basic biology and disease prevention in sex-ed.
There was a time when religion ruled the world. It was called the dark ages. Let's not go back to that time. Instead, ultra-conservatives like Morris need to be thrown out, and the sooner the better. If you live in a district that has an incumbent extremist, make sure you're registered to vote, and vote AGAINST them in the primary. I am in Sue Gamble's district, and I believe she is one of the few voices of reason on the board.. (oh, and I can't vote in the primaries anyway as a registered Libertarian, small detail).
Get out and vote, and let's restore our acedemic standards to the modern age.
posted by Jason E. Peck at 7:29 AM
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