Top home-school texts dismiss Darwin

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I guess I slightly missed the point of your post, you did (virtually) touch on the point that there is no way to debate creationism vs. evolution. You seem to be suggesting that you should teach kids to believe in things they can't see, and all evidence points against.

I couldn't possibly disagree more strongly with this.

Teaching biology without mentioning evolution is like teaching physics without mentioning momentum.

It doesn't matter in the least that "people" are on the fence about it.

The only thing that matters is that scientists are not on the fence about it.

Having combed through this, I have a stream of consciousness to share.

I will predicate this by saying that I am firmly persuaded that the Theory of Evolution is an essentially valid description of the observable world. It may, in time, be refined, or even supplanted, but it provides an internal and external consistency that I believe to be evidence of its objective truth. But let's be clear, this is a belief. A theory is always subject to modification as empirical evidence demonstrates inconsistency or falsity.

So while I support, without exception, the teaching of evolution as a valid, scientific explanation of the emergence of various forms of life, I do not support the exclusion of other teaching.

Teaching should not occur in a vacuum. Consider the Copernican model of the solar system. At its deterministic root, you need understand nothing more than the Sun as the gravitational focus of the system, and the orbits of the smaller gravitational objects. Throw in a bit of Keppler, and you have an internally and externally consistent system. (Well, in low-gravity environments--we'll leave out quantum for the moment!).

However, the Copernical model is more than just a tidy explanation for the sun, the moon and the planets. The Copernical model is also a political and historical phenomenon. It was a paradigm shift from the Ptolomeic model, and it took down huge institutional beliefs. This kind of scientific revision must be a component of teaching, in my view.

That's not to say that Creationism, or the Ptolemeic model should be held up as valid science, but they should be understood as the precursor beliefs.

As for home schooling. I can never subscribe to a Statist approach to education. For every creationist fundie taking their kids out of public schools, there is a open minded liberal who is rejecting their school board's latest attempt to ban One Dad, Two Dads, Red Dad, Blue Dads. If the price of a liberal education is allowing conservatives their freedom of belief, I will pay that price.

Again, I'm not against healthy debate or discussion of opposing theories in a classroom setting, in fact I am very strongly for it. I wouldn't think of censoring a science teacher from discussing creationism. However, I sure as *hell* would never think of mandating that he or she include it. Further, I *would* can that teacher if he or she started turning into a Christian fundamentalist moron behind the podium.

I should refer you back to the earlier posts in this thread, in which the definition of a scientific theory is clarified. While there is always a chance that a scientific theory will be disproven (electricity could consist of subatomic monkeys marching through copper that fly out of my ass), evolution is essentially a scientific law and the chance it will be replaced by another theory is extremely remote, I would go out on a limb and suggest it will never happen and as I mentioned earlier I'm fairly open minded. Others will probably flatly tell you it will never happen. Meanwhile creationism holds absolutely no water whatsoever as a scientific theory.

So yes, while I believe I'm open minded, I think this world has plenty of things that are black and white and this is one of them.

There are plenty of genuine gray areas to discuss without resorting to fake ones.

I'm nowhere near as tolerant as you are. As far as I'm concerned, if someone's opinion is demonstrably incorrect, they can take that opinion and use it as a butt plug, all bets are off. It's left the realm of opinion and entered the realm of fact.

Wow, excellent

We already have a generation ignorant of physics and mathematics. Do you wish to turn out a generation ignorant of biology, too? The Next Big Thing in science and technology will be in biology and molecular chemistry. Your suggestion would turn the U.S. into a "third world country" with regard to the most important science related to our economic welfare.

ruveyn

Our schools do a wonderful job of not teaching anything. They are Union!

Broad testing by uninvolved parties, The United States Department of Defense, shows that half way through the Eight Grade with a C-, is the educational level, for dropouts, high school grads, and University combined. It is equal to the GED standard test.

This places us just above Romania, and below Bulgaria.

To get there we have dropped the hard subjects, Geography, History, Civics, Science, Math, and focus on the message, everyone is equal, all sex is the same, everyone is entitled to the American Dream.

It is a processing center for worker/consumers who will be unable to question the actions of the Government, and their very close friends in business.

University is near the same, producing space fillers who will go along with anything.

In the old days if you wanted some dirty work done, there were bars near the waterfront, now, just hire an MBA.

Educated people are a danger to the existing system, which is America! It is fully owned, and change is Treason!

There are plenty of good jobs, with six weeks training you can be a PFC. in Afganistan for eight years.

The Elites who move between Washington and Wall Street know what is best for you, sexual freedom, Freedom of Religion, till they send in the tanks, and a life of service to their programs.

America is #1, for the Flag, and God!

High quality education, health care, are for godless socialists, Europeans and worse, who pay half their income for government run programs, now you don't want that In America, Do You!

A gay woman was elected the Mayor of Houston, 17% of the eligible voters voted. That is only the registered voters, about a third of those who could, the system works.

Homeschool will not be banned as a matter of civil liberty, something the third-world nation you live in does not respect.

I am a math genius and I can say with absolute certainty that I could have taught math substantially better than the majority of the teachers I had or knew in my white suburban high school.

Also, from the home-schoolers I have met they are far more intelligent than the vast majority of students turning out of the socialist state-run school districts. They are certainly not as smart as I am, but neither is most of the population.

This forum's members who believe that the curricula are rooted in theological mumbo-jumbo, rather than science, are just as ignorant as the Christians who flat out reject Darwin without any investigation for themselves. What these students are being taught is not to reject evolution as a matter of faith, but to understand it, and even argue in support of it, on a level far beyond the one-sided students who receive instruction exclusively from socialists.

First off, what nation do I live in?

Second, I have no doubt you could teach math substantially better. So then get your ass certified and do it. If the certification standards are bad, fix them.

It's not America and it's probably English-speaking and therefore third-world.

Yeah, we all know how horrible living conditions in Britain and Canada are...

QFT, especially the bolded part (emphasis is mine). I could add more to the debate, but I think this conveys it about as succinctly as it can be.

Well we all know where you live based on that comment. Awesome, I always wanted to communicate with someone dwelling in the Twilight Zone.

"Third-world". You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.