Sunday, January 29, 2006
Missouri Legislator Rushes In
Our old friend Afarensis has an interesting item on a bill to establish the Missouri Science Education Act. In RSR's opinion, the bill marks a fascinating departure for the Missouri legislature which usually busies itself naming the state bird, having lunch with lobbyists, and other such important business.
Having so successfully cut health-care for the poor last year, the legislature, apparently, has begun to look ahead at what might be accomplished this year. The science education bill, sponsored by Republican Wayne Cooper, is one of those critical analysis bills that has the fingerprints of the Discovery Institute all over it.
Some, more cynical that RSR, might assume Missouri legislators were a bit out of their depth in deciding that, "[i]nformation that represents scientific thought, such as theory, hypothesis, extrapolation, and estimation, among others, must also be distinguished from verified empirical data and may be presented in the light of critical analysis."
The Missouri mules in the legislature may not know a hypothesis from a hole in the ground, but they do know that a "substantive amount of critical analysis is required when teaching a theory of biological origins or current scientific theory that deals with prehistory or the future."
Having so successfully cut health-care for the poor last year, the legislature, apparently, has begun to look ahead at what might be accomplished this year. The science education bill, sponsored by Republican Wayne Cooper, is one of those critical analysis bills that has the fingerprints of the Discovery Institute all over it.
Some, more cynical that RSR, might assume Missouri legislators were a bit out of their depth in deciding that, "[i]nformation that represents scientific thought, such as theory, hypothesis, extrapolation, and estimation, among others, must also be distinguished from verified empirical data and may be presented in the light of critical analysis."
The Missouri mules in the legislature may not know a hypothesis from a hole in the ground, but they do know that a "substantive amount of critical analysis is required when teaching a theory of biological origins or current scientific theory that deals with prehistory or the future."
