Creationism in Texas Schools
The Dallas Morning News sides with science in its editorial advising "a long, hard look" before the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approves an online master's degree program by the Institute for Creation Research.
The News is right to be concerned. Creationists have made many attempts to get the Biblical account of creation taught in schools. When straightforward religion lessons were ruled unconstitutional, creationists disguised their Biblical beliefs as science, calling it intelligent design. Courts saw through that charade. Now, creationists seek to undermine public education by indoctrinating teachers with creationism in their own higher education and teacher training. The strategy is that no matter what the textbook says, no matter what the law says, it's what the teacher in the classroom says that has the most impact on schoolchildren. Train the teachers in creationism and some of it will seep into the public school curriculum.
The Institute for Creation Research may promise to include enough "real" science to argue that its graduate program should pass academic muster. But including some "real" science shouldn't be enough. Teaching creationism as science should disqualify any program, no matter how much "real" science they grudgingly agree to teach as well.
Words: Mostly in the Star-Telegram?
Don Erler, in one of his too frequent columns in Fort Worth Star-Telegram, plugs newspapers as the best source of information. He quantifies his analysis. Who can argue with numbers? By his count, the Star-Telegram contained "93 unduplicated stories or reports in last Wednesday's edition. ... In contrast, my online connection gives me five or six stories to look at whenever I log on."
Erler is quick to say, "I'm not knocking my Internet provider." Well, I won't be so polite. If Erler can find only five or six news stories on the Internet, he ought to fire his Internet service provider. Google News alone claims to aggregate stories from over 4500 news sources updated continuously. That's 4500 news sources, not 4500 stories. Each news source has who knows how many stories. But Erler wants us to be impressed with the Star-Telegram's 93 stories. Erler is identified as being "president of General Building Maintenance." I suspect he has more experience with fixing plumbing than using the Internet. But I don't know what excuse the professional editors at the Star-Telegram have for giving one of their 93 slots to Don Erler.
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