A Georgia judge ordered the stickers saying the "evolution is not fact" removed from the inside cover of textbooks in Georgia.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/A...artner=homepage

What do you think about this?

 

I think US schools should teach more critical thinking, and less fluff.

But then, the job of schools is to prepare people for jobs, not necessarily to think.

 

I think it's about time someone in Georgia exhibited some sense. Linwood Gunn obviously doesn't possess any.

Dean

 

I think they should put this part of the sticker in _all_ the text books, all over the world: "This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.''

 

Well duh. Are you also one of those who thinks that a toilet bowl brush needs to have a warning saying: "not to be used for oral hygene"?
[edit: sorry, that sounded more personal than I meant to imply]

Textbooks are one thing, but where that sticker REALLY needs to be stuck is on the cover of every religious text.

 

Mike -- why are so cynical about everything? Those stickers make no real difference in what one will believe or not believe. I'm not afraid of those who believe in evolution as fact or those who think it is a theory. I'm far more afraid of those who cannot be civil to other human beings -- that's where the evolutionary process has perhaps broken down a bit.

 

Dean

 

Yes, those stickers do make a real difference. They not only imply that there is room for debate on the central issue, but they also lend no small amount of respectability to the creationist crowd who by all rights have no place in the arena.

People sometimes try to score debating points by saying, "Evolution is only a theory." That is correct, but it's important to understand what that means. It is also only a theory that the world goes round the Sun -- it's just a theory for which there is an immense amount of evidence.
There are many scientific theories that are in doubt. Even within evolution, there is some room for controversy. But evolution is a fact in the ordinary sense of the word.

Dean

 

I assume you mean, why am I so cynical about everything? I'm not really. But look up Ambrose Bierce's definition of a cynic for a partial answer.

I happen to feel very strongly that science is one of the great keys to improving the lives of people. It really bothers me when folks try to suppress other people learning about such a powerful force for understanding ourselves and the world around us.

 

I think the judge did exactly what he should have done.