Tuesday, June 21, 2011
'Stealth creationism bill' may be dead for this Legislative session
Posted by Kandace Graves on Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 8:13 PM
A proposal opponents call a “stealth creationism bill” failed to pass the Louisiana Senate Tuesday, June 21, potentially killing it for the session. HB580 by Rep. Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe, would allow public school boards in Louisiana to purchase textbooks that have not been approved by the state Department of Education’s (DOE) Textbook Adoption Committee, which is required under current law. The DOE and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) are charged with making sure all textbooks used in public schools address basic Grade-Level Expectations (GLEs), which are covered on standardized tests.
Baton Rouge Magnet School senior Zack Kopplin was in the Senate Tuesday when lawmakers failed to pass HB580 but put it back on the calendar for possible reconsideration later. “From right now we think we’ve got it,” Kopplin said. To pass the bill would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. Supporters were seven votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill outright through the upper chamber. Lawmakers get three tries for reconsideration of the bill, but two-thirds of the Senate must vote in favor of hearing it again.
“I’m not declaring a total victory yet,” Kopplin said, “but what I’m hearing is it’s unlikely to be brought up again (this session). … This is great news for Louisiana. This bill, frankly, takes away the power from BESE and gives it to people without the oversight that’s needed.”
Earlier in the session, Kopplin mounted a campaign to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA), which the Louisiana Legislature passed in 2008. That law allows public school teachers to use “supplemental” materials in classrooms, clearing the way for creationism, or intelligent design, to be introduced in public schools. Forty-three Nobel laureates joined Kopplin’s effort to have the Legislature repeal the LSEA during the 2011 session, but those efforts failed.
If passed, Kopplin says HB580 could have a chilling effect on teachers all over the state. “If teachers are now being graded on students’ scores, how can we expect them to succeed when the textbooks are not in line (with what students must know to pass standardized tests)? This gives school boards who already are trying to teach creationism a way to do that without oversight.”
Ian Binns, a member of the Louisiana Coalition For Science (LCFS) and an assistant professor in Louisiana State University’s 
Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice argued against HB580 when it was considered by the Senate Education Committee last week. He says he has been very disappointed in how the Senate has handled both HB580 and the LSEA.
When he was testifying before the Education Committee, he says, vice chair Sen. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, challenged Binns’ contention that HB580 would allow inappropriate materials (i.e. creationism) in the classroom. “I think he wasn’t remembering correctly, but since they allowed the repeal effort of the Louisiana Science Education Act to stop, they haven’t stopped inappropriate materials into the classroom. Because of the LSEA, we have allowed that to happen.
“This (HB580) would be a major detriment to the students in the state of Louisiana. … I’m just hoping that over the next 48 hours things will go OK and this will stop.” The legislative session must adjourn no later than 6 p.m. Thursday.
“We really shouldn’t be wasting our money and our time on legislation like this,” Binns says. “They want to improve education; this is not the way to do it. If people truly understood that science is not out to get religion and that science cannot be supernatural, they would not allow this. A lot of these arguments are attempts to redefine science.”
Kopplin says he already is engaging other high school students to take up the battle to repeal the LSEA during the next legislative session.
“I think we have a good shot at getting this repealed next year,” he says. “(Repealing) the LSEA will always be faster than (getting it overturned through) a lawsuit. This will be a long, tough, expensive one for the state of Louisiana.
“Eventually someone is going to look at the number of science conventions that are being lost because of this … and say, ‘That is a lot of money.’ We’re holding out hope the Louisiana Legislature will support our children’s future. I hope they do the right thing and vote to give Louisiana students the science they need.”
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Comments (7)
Showing 1-7 of 7
An honest question directed to people who have more knowledge about evolution than me. What is the scientific importance of evolution and its teachings? If all that is taught about evolution is true and provable, how does it improve the quality of human life. I am admitting that I ask this from a point of ignorance. What does it do for me or my kids future? What I'm asking is like chemistry, we produce things and combined with biology we cure disease and make our quality of life improve. I always considered evoltion like a history course or something. Enlighten me, please.
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Evolution is of the utmost importance to the study of biology. It helps us understand why species (including our own) have come to be the way they are, and where they may be going in the future. We can also examine how species have adapted to their environments to aid in our own adaptation as humans.
From the Wikipedia article:
"Concepts and models used in evolutionary biology, in particular natural selection, have many applications.
Artificial selection is the intentional selection of traits in a population of organisms. This has been used for thousands of years in the domestication of plants and animals.More recently, such selection has become a vital part of genetic engineering, with selectable markers such as antibiotic resistance genes being used to manipulate DNA. In repeated rounds of mutation and selection proteins with valuable properties have evolved, for example modified enzymes and new antibodies, in a process called directed evolution."
You are correct in that evolution is like a history course. It is the history of all life on Earth. And how does learning about that improve the quality of human life? Well, I've always assumed that ignorance is a hindrance to human happiness, so in that way, it is a deterrent to a large amount of ignorance and thus a creator of a lot of happiness.
Evolution is a byproduct of the process of genetic inheritance. If you understand how reproduction happens - the whole story involving DNA and mutations - and if you understand the basic ideas of selection pressure, then you will see that evolution is *bound* to occur. We can simulate it in the computer and watch it happening. In fact, simulated evolution is an important technique in large-scale computer design. Evolution is not just history: it is happening now, and it will go on happening as long as there is life on earth. Yes, evolution is central to the history of life, but that history is still going on. If you do not understand this then you simply cannot understand modern biology, modern medicine, even modern computer science. You will not understand why it is important to discover new antibiotics, or how we can create genetically modified disease-resistant crops. If we do not teach our students this fundamental idea, they will be helpless in the modern world.
You see, people can explain things without calling them "dumb" or other names. Thanks for your responses. I agree that it is very helpful to our well being. My next question concerns the legislative deal. My kids attended catholic school and received information, lectures, etc. on average, about an hour a day, about 180 days per year, on pure "creationism." Both attained very high ACT scores. Three kids in my oldest son's class got "perfect" scores on their ACT test. Many in my graduating class,(also a catholic school 40 years ago), are doctors, lawyers, educators, airline pilots, physicist and such. How would a paragraph in a high school text book stating that some people believe in 'intelligent design" or God or something screw up their test scores or put them at some educational disadvantage?
While the inclusion of intelligent design may not hurt test scores, that is not the point. Science is built on objective evidence and provable results. If you would like Intelligent Design discussed in schools I am all for it being discussed in social studies as a cultural phenomenon. However, because it lacks objective and provable evidence, it lacks the criteria for discussion in a science class.
In addition, if we are to acknowledge that some people believe in Intelligent Design over evolution, then we must also incorporate a mention of the beliefs of those of Islamic background, Jewish background, Buddhist background, Hindu background etc, because, if not, we have a public facility choosing one religion's view over another, and that is not the policy of the United States.
twilliam, if you sent your children to Catholic school they were taught religion and evolution. The Catholic Church does not dispute scientific facts anymore--they tried that with Gallileo hundreds of years ago and they found they cannot squelch science. But they maintain that there is an ultimate power in the universe and that miracles do occur.
Peace,
Tim
Tim: I know that...and spaceman: that is the argument used by Kopplin, not me: "if passed, Kopplin says HB580 could have a chilling effect on teachers all over the state. “If teachers are now being graded on students’ scores, how can we expect them to succeed when the textbooks are not in line (with what students must know to pass standardized tests)? That is why I asked the question......Just commenting on the above article.
