Teacher refuses 'intelligent design' statement

[The Straight Story]

Teacher refuses 'intelligent design' statement

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A high school biology teacher testified Thursday that she and her colleagues refused to read a statement on "intelligent design" in class because they questioned the concept's scientific validity.

In a landmark trial over the Dover Area School Board's decision to include reference to intelligent design in its biology curriculum, teacher Jennifer Miller testified she didn't see the concept as a viable scientific alternative to the theory of evolution.

"It would misrepresent the importance of the theory of evolution to our students," said Miller, one of a group of teachers who presented a memo to the district asking to be excused from reading the statement on intelligent design.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9620585/

[trotsky]

1. A small victory for science and reason.

Hooray for these teachers - I'm certain, though, that they will face threats and hate mail from fundies.

[DanCa]

2. I am sure that most of the christians on DU support this teacher

The very notion that the right wing keeps verenating jesus to get there pro life politicrap in the public school system is sickening. It's the theological equivalent to reganomics in the classroom.

Is there anyway that we can write and email there support and say thank you to Miller?

[FM Arouet666]

3. This may be the way to defeat ID

If ID is forced on public schools, science teachers must unite and refuse to teach myth. Are the school boards going to fire all the science teachers? Are there enough fundies to fill in for striking science teachers? The whole system will fall apart, and I suspect all the negative attention will force the fundies to capitulate.

[Az]

4. Very reminiscent of the Scopes trial

We never got to fight that one to the end.

[onager]

5. You could argue that the Fundies won Scopes.

Schoolbook publishers were so cowed by Scopes that they rushed to get evolution out of their textbooks. They had visions of the Fundies launching legal attacks on them in every state.

One study showed that high school biology books covered evolution much more extensively before 1925 than after.

I'm sure that has contributed to the General Dumbassery we're suffering on the topic of evolution to this very day.