Arizona could roll back teaching of evolution in classroom

[brooklynite]

Source: KVOA-TV

The teaching of evolution in Arizona classrooms could be taking a big step backwards.

School Superintendent Diane Douglas is apparently behind a rewrite of science standards for all Arizona school children that would delete references to evolution.

Audio obtained by 12 News shows Douglas believes a version of creationism, called “intelligent design,” should be taught in tandem with evolution.

The proposed science standards could leave it up to teachers to decide which one students should learn.

Read more: http://www.kvoa.com/story/38230633/arizona-could-roll-back-teaching-of-evolution-in-classroom

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Walmart needs to get its greeters from somewhere...

[Matthew28]

1. Bastards

are forcing us back to the freaking dark ages.

[Girard442]

2. You too can be an Alabama!

[guillaumeb]

3. Devolution instead of evolution.

Where is Clarence Darrow?

[Basic LA]

14. As played by Spencer Tracy!

Inherit the Wind, what a movie.

[ProudLib72]

21. Don't forget, Bryan "won"

[guillaumeb]

40. True. eom

[mountain grammy]

4. Sharia law....

[angrychair]

6. [phone].

Christian Taliban Law

[Stryst]

13. They hit American citizens with cars.

They shoot American citizens with guns. Now they're trying to tell American citizens they can only teach kids about their specific religion instead of facts.

The Republican is the biggest terror threat this nation has ever faced, yet our government acts like it's a simple difference of opinion.
Meanwhile, the citizen is forced to acknowledge that it's cultural and ethnic genocide at a pace that the entitled can simply ignore.

No more, it clearly isn't a problem to any side of our government, because it's a problem for the citizenry and not aristocracy.
This is a peoples problem, and it's time the people fix it.

[RKP5637]

18. Well said!!! n/t

[not fooled]

32. Error-Zona pukes embarass themselves

once again.

[Cattledog]

5. Another reason the US doesn't make the top 25 countries in IQ

[RKP5637]

7. We have absolute idiots in positions of power in this failing country. n/t

[MustLoveBeagles]

11. +1

[Oneironaut]

27. It's the classic conundrum, where...

the exact type of person you don't want having power is dumb enough to seek power. Seeing how many dumb people have power, the people who should have power stay out of politics.

[exboyfil]

8. NCSE - National Center for Science Education

They try to combat this crap.

There is no theory of intelligent design. There is just an unsubstantiated hypothesis that doesn't have any testable features to it.

[RKP5637]

19. Basically, it's more god-speak. n/t

[dlk]

9. Of Course - Teaching Science is Dangerous, Especially When Having to Stick to those Pesky Facts

[MustLoveBeagles]

10. Ugh

Intelligent design/Creationism has no place in a public school.

[dhill926]

12. embarrassing...

the religiously insane are taking over the country...

[KWR65]

15. What does Diane do for the knuckle burn she gets from walking across carpets?

[guillaumeb]

17. No respect for gorillas?

Poor gorillas!!

[KWR65]

50. Sorry!

[ancianita]

16. States can afford whatever public schools they want to afford. With private prep school curricula.

ALL public schools should teach what private prep schools teach.

You'd better believe that elites' kids aren't getting shortchanged on a classical, civics and STEM education, with plenty of field trips and travel to reinforce that education.

Evolution books are everywhere. Create local STEM and humanities libraries.

[jmowreader]

20. Let me guess

Next year, Arizona science teachers will also have the option of teaching flat earth theory.

[bronxiteforever]

22. Her wiki entry is a real ripper

...as of August 2016, Douglas' approval rating was just 16 percent.
And she has a ba in business and marketing from Rutgers and worked in the finance industry.
In other words, zero science credentials. So really just who you want to develop the science curriculum.




https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Douglas

[RockRaven]

23. From what I've heard/read, universities take the different state subject standards into account

when evaluating applicants' academic records, so this move only hurts Arizona's students college prospects (albeit marginally). Of course, that is in line with what the theocrats want: a less educated public.

[LittleGirl]

24. Arizona is the

Alabama of the southwest! Such a beautiful state run by a bunch of racist Christian idiots. How do I know? I live here but at least here in Tucson, is mostly blue. Wonderful indivisible group here.

[3catwoman3]

29. My older son is moving to Phoenix in about 3 weeks.

I'm not thrilled. He's a progressive and an atheist, as it the girlfriend for whom he is moving there.

[LittleGirl]

36. He'll be fine

There are a lot of nice people in Phoenix and I hope he likes the heat. It's much warmer up there than here and it's so hot that my spouse refuses to live here anymore. We've sold the house and plan to move in 3 weeks. Tell him to look up the Indivisible group in Phoenix or whatever suburb he's going to live in.

[3catwoman3]

38. I don't know that he has ever been there in the summer.

We have lived in Illinois since he was 4, and 90 degree days here are utterly miserable. I can't imagiine a 3 month (or longer stretch of 100-120. I won't be able to visit during those months. I've never been to AZ.

Where are you going to move to? (Don't answer if you'd prefer not to.)

My favorite state in Colorado.

[LittleGirl]

39. The joke is that it's a dry heat

but 115 is not unusual in June and quite normal up there. July is when the monsoon starts so it's not only hot as hades, it's humid. And humid for us is 30-60% with temps in the 100s. Winters are fabulous here but we had an extremely dry winter with very little rain so we are starting this summer in a severe drought. That is a fire hazard. There are many things he can do to compensate for the heat. Make sure he carries a glove with him to open your car door. The steering wheel is called the ring of fire. I even had my foot sweat pushing the gas or break with the a/c running full blast. Don't go outside in the afternoon between 1-6 and keep hydrated. Don't hike in the heat or do anything strenuous after 10am. Visit between Oct-Mar.

We're leaving the country because that's where my spouse works.

[3catwoman3]

41. Escaping Trump - I am jealous.

I will pass on those useful tips about managing the heat. I wouldn't have thought about the glove for opening a car door -sheesh! My son's girlfriend is a Phoenix native, so I'm sure she is well versed in all the hot weather safety measures, and my son is still a serious athlete at age 28, a certified stength and conditioning specialist and, to borrow Lawrence ODonnell's accent, "wicked smaht," so I have reason to hope he will take safe care of himself.

In 1976-77, I was stationed in San Antonio during my first 2 years in the Air Force nurse corps. I came from western upstate NY near Lake Ontario and thought all of TX was flat, brown and dry. San Antonio was green, hilly, and HUMID! My little Toyota Corolla did not have air conditioning, and had black vinyl seats. There was no covered parking on the base. Drives home at 5 PM were miserable. I know all about hot steering wheels.

I had a small portable thermometer in my Toyota, and one day I got in the car to find that it had broken because of the heat -

Before we moved to IL, we lived in the Washington DC area for 8 years, where the temperatures and humidity are both 90-95 degrees and percent from early June thru the end of August - yuck, yuck, yuck. Humidity from 30-60% would seem dry to us, by comparison. I detest feeling sticky.

[LittleGirl]

46. Thanks for that history

Right now, this exact moment, my thermometer is 91 with 7% humidity and that happens most of the year. During a winter rain, we might climb up to 70 or 80% humidity. During the summer, the evaporation rate is so high that it may rain but never touch the ground or if it does, dries within 5 minutes. I lose about 2 inches of water in the pool every day because of the high evaporation and our water bill is over 200 bucks for a month.

If his girlfriend is a native of Phoenix, she can assist in helping him cope. But, my husband is a marathon runner and he has a very low tolerance for heat. He ran a marathon in April and had his longest time ever because that day, the sun was out and it was 85 degrees. That marathon was not in Arizona. He had to slow down and suffered with leg cramps and he's been running marathons for at least 5 yrs now. Dehydration can be deadly and I hope he (your son) heeds that warning.

I've never been to San Antonio but Austin was lovely when I was there in '79. I grew up in the Midwest so I remember that heat and humidity which is why I'll never live there again! LOL.

[3catwoman3]

47. My son does play soccer, but does not run marathons.

He actually prefers indoor soccer, which would be a wise choice during the peak heat season. He does weight lifting in climate controlled gyms. He is very health conscious (raised by a nurse), and does know the importance of staying hydrated, but I will pass along all your words of wisdom anyway.

I hope your move goes smoothly.

[LittleGirl]

48. Thank you kindly!

I hope their move goes well too. Mid-June is the hottest time of year here and I'm dreading it. We didn't plan it this way but that's what worked out. We have to hire help because I'm too old to move anything much less furniture and heavy boxes. Just packing them will be all I can muster.

I bet with your training, you've seen everything. Peace out.

[weissmam]

25. cool

now all the kids out of AZ will be idiots , the Chinese and the rest of Asia are laughing like hell at us

[sakabatou]

26. Intelligent design has already been shown in court to be creationism in disguise

I don't know how Douglas thinks she can get away with this.

[John Fante]

28. She won't. She's just pandering to the religious nut jobs.

[StTimofEdenRoc]

30. So they intend to teach panspermia, and the ancient aliens theory?

[miyazaki]

31. Another reason to ask myself, who's the shithole country now? nt

[paleotn]

33. We've been through this crap already...

I suppose she's never heard of Kitzmiller v. Dover, where a federal judge ruled ID is nothing but religo-nut, creation bullshit in a fancy wrapper. This will get slap down in court AGAIN faster than you can say natural selection.

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/education/judge-rejects-teaching-intelligent-design.html

[logosoco]

34. Well, gee, why don't they cut out teaching kids math as well?

Most people just use calculators anyway! And with all these computers and machines that respond to the spoken voice, they might as well just stop teaching kids how to read and write!

[hunter]

35. Many parts of the U.S.A. are cesspools of ignorance.

Evolution is already neglected by far too many teachers; teachers who are fundamentalists themselves, or teachers who don't want to offend fundamentalist parents and school administrators. Many Biology texts are structured so a chapter on evolution can be skipped. In a good biology text evolution permeates every chapter.

Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution

Theodosius Dobzhansky, 1973

Dobzhansky was an Eastern Orthodox Christian, a religion with a rich intellectual tradition. The fundamentalist Christian crowd hates religions with strong intellectual traditions too, as much as they hate atheists and any science that contradicts their tiny model of the universe.

It's not even worth debating Creationists and Intelligent Design believers. They just spew clouds of shit when you poke them and love to feel persecuted.

The problem is not unique to Biology classes. High school History classes in the U.S.A. can be just as bad.

[mwooldri]

37. I wonder... If we get enough of these would it change people's minds?

https://res.cloudinary.com/jpress/image/fetch/c_fill,f_auto,h_514,q_auto:eco,w_960/

Now this £10 note is no longer in circulation but I'm sure a shedload of Darwins would convince people otherwise? Maybe a promise of lots of these to their opponents in an upcoming election?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

42. Ain't gonna happen in 5 ... 4 ... 3 .... NT

[Maxheader]

43. Kids aren't stupid..

If they don't get it at school they'll get it from
others...or the internet...

[Nac Mac Feegle]

44. As a resident, all I have to say is:

You can't spell crazy without R-AZ.

[dembotoz]

45. Gop loves stupid

[mahatmakanejeeves]

49. Read all about it, and add your comments.

Science Educators Raise Alarms about Revised K-12 Standards

DRAFT - Arizona Science Standards - DRAFT

K-12 Standards Section - Arizona Science and History_Social Science Standards Review

[jberryhill]

51. Not to mention the evolution of teaching as well