Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, said the bill’s intent is to promote “critical thinking” in science classrooms.
Critics contend it’s a shield to allow the teaching of evolution alternatives such as intelligent design and creationism.
Bill supporter Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, said that “since the late ‘50s, early ‘60s when we let the intellectual bullies hijack our education system, we’ve been on a slippery slope.”
“This is a common-sense bill,” Floyd said. “Thank you for bringing this bill to protect our teachers from the other intellectual bullies.”
Rep. Sheila Butt, R-Columbia, said when she was in high school, “we gave up Aqua Net hair spray” because of fears “it was causing global warming.”
“Since then scientists have said that maybe we shouldn’t have given up that aerosol can because that aerosol can was actually absorbing the Earth’s rays and keeping us from global warming.”
QuoteBill supporter Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, said that “since the late ‘50s, early ‘60s when we let the intellectual bullies hijack our education system, we’ve been on a slippery slope.”
QuoteBill supporter Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, said that “since the late ‘50s, early ‘60s when we let the intellectual bullies hijack our education system, we’ve been on a slippery slope.”
Intellectuals in charge of the education system...
OH NOES!
Best solution is to let stupid people be stupid, and move to a different state if the stupid people happen to be in the majority in the one where you live.
Rep. Sheila Butt, R-Columbia, said when she was in high school, “we gave up Aqua Net hair spray” because of fears “it was causing global warming.”
“Since then scientists have said that maybe we shouldn’t have given up that aerosol can because that aerosol can was actually absorbing the Earth’s rays and keeping us from global warming.”
I don't understand this... America is supposed to have the first amendment, and yet stuff like this goes right through
See, the problem is that when you look beneath the surface, the USA is two countries which have somehow managed to avoid war with each other since 1865
You're really preaching to the choir.
The fact that people do not agree with your idealistic naivete is no reason for you to turn into a passive-aggressive sack of tears.
Go post in threads like this (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=75415.0) if you're tired of political discussion.
There are substantial threads in GenDisc. Look for them, post in them.
There are substantial threads in GenDisc. Look for them, post in them.
Let's look at the front page. Fundie bashing, a dozen human interest stories, some piano player who even the OP said sucked, Toonami, some movie I will never bother to see, snakes and unicorns (what the heck were you guys doing for the past few weeks)... The GOP thread might be good but it somehow devolved into something about F-22s and their crucial importance to the budget deficit.
Don't make me start a thread about something or we'll be back to talking aboutGitmothe homosexual agendaterrorism, socialism, or the fate of western civilization.
There are substantial threads in GenDisc. Look for them, post in them.
Let's look at the front page. Fundie bashing, a dozen human interest stories, some piano player who even the OP said sucked, Toonami, some movie I will never bother to see, snakes and unicorns (what the heck were you guys doing for the past few weeks)... The GOP thread might be good but it somehow devolved into something about F-22s and their crucial importance to the budget deficit.
Don't make me start a thread about something or we'll be back to talking aboutGitmothe homosexual agendaterrorism, socialism, or the fate of western civilization.
Why not do it? There always needs to be a bit of rancor to test the establishment.
The thing is that the US public education system (which, surprise, is dominated by liberals) has so crippled people's ability to think for themselves that you rarely see any rational debate on the internet, especially forums. Usually arguments on HLP end up devolving into competing arguments from authority, and more emphasis is placed on citing your sources than on articulating a cogent position.Well there definitely is a problem with public education. High school hasn't significantly evolved in 80 years. It's not about learning; it's about keeping kids out of the workforce.
The remedy is to read more. Read the source texts (not commentaries on them) for both your side and your opponents' side. Read enough that you can defend your position competently even if you forget half the stuff you read.
2. Who ever said that aerosols were preventing global warming?
The thing is that the US public education system (which, surprise, is dominated by liberals) has so crippled people's ability to think for themselves that you rarely see any rational debate on the internet, especially forums. Usually arguments on HLP end up devolving into competing arguments from authority, and more emphasis is placed on citing your sources than on articulating a cogent position.
The remedy is to read more. Read the source texts (not commentaries on them) for both your side and your opponents' side. Read enough that you can defend your position competently even if you forget half the stuff you read.
(this is not directed at The E; he just happened to post before I did)
The second one. However, I really don't understand the point of all these lets-bash-fundies type threads. It's not like anyone here needs to be convinced. Doesn't it get old?
edit: I edited before UT quoted me
The thing is that the US public education system (which, surprise, is dominated by liberals) has so crippled people's ability to think for themselves that you rarely see any rational debate on the internet, especially forums. Usually arguments on HLP end up devolving into competing arguments from authority, and more emphasis is placed on citing your sources than on articulating a cogent position.
Our schools are being directed by people who think that teaching to the test is the best way to teach. I think that's a more pressing issue. The whole point of the current system is to increase numbers in every area - so whoever controls the tests controls what students "learn". Whether or not they believe it or think it's bull**** is up to the student, but whether or not they have a choice is up to whoever creates those tests and assigns the grades.
I know, personally, that I am tired of having almost no control over my life as an American student from the ages of 13/14 to 22/23 (high school to end of university).
While we're on this US education system tangent, I'd like to point out that the apparent low test scores in the United States are due almost entirely to racial differences. White Americans do nearly as well as white Europeans on TIMSS.
http://www.asianweek.com/2008/12/24/odds-and-ends-alternative-energy-czar-2/
And I like Goob's post as well. The problem comes when you're arguing over topics where very little empirical evidence or useful models are available to prove any particular points (eg the Gitmo thing).
While we're on this US education system tangent, I'd like to point out that the apparent low test scores in the United States are due almost entirely to racial differences. White Americans do nearly as well as white Europeans on TIMSS.
http://www.asianweek.com/2008/12/24/odds-and-ends-alternative-energy-czar-2/
And I like Goob's post as well. The problem comes when you're arguing over topics where very little empirical evidence or useful models are available to prove any particular points (eg the Gitmo thing).
Let me guess, those white people who do so well also tend to have much more educated/richer parents on average ?
That would be my suspicion as a teacher anyways.
Probably. There's also an anti-education stigma in some black communities, though thankfully that's finally going away.
I don't feel greater standardization of tests is the solution - look at England. They're the most tested country in the world, and I don't recall (and this would be a situation where I would ask someone else to cite a study if posible), that they're doing much better than anyone else.
<removed because it was not really relevant>
EDIT:QuoteI don't feel greater standardization of tests is the solution - look at England. They're the most tested country in the world, and I don't recall (and this would be a situation where I would ask someone else to cite a study if posible), that they're doing much better than anyone else.
I can't actually recall 'anyone else', aside from the USA, which does not have standardized tests...
But when I said "anyone else" I was referring to both countries with and without standardized testing.
As a religious person, I gotta ask: what the **** happened to church and state?
As a religious person, I gotta ask: what the **** happened to church and state?
I assume you mean the separation thereof?
On the topic of the education system, that's personally my first target for reform. The current system does not encourage creative or different thought. You are meant to learn the material to get higher numbers which in our system somehow = better students/people/learners/thinkers. Obviously this is proving to be a fallacy, and what's worse, I think that most every kid in the US feels how BS the education system is, but they feel like they *have* to do it because that's how everyone before them did it. I don't think people realize how new a lot of our educational practices are, relatively speaking.Smarter, better educated people think more about their choices in life and are more likely to try and do things on their own, rather than listening to what someone says to them.
"Stupider" people are more likely to simply go along with what they're told and believe in happy stuff the goverment/religion of choice/the man/whatever tells them to do.
Guess which cathegory would be preferred by the goverment?Spoiler:I'm generalising a LOT here. But that doesnt really invalidate my point much.