09 November 2005

fucking kansas: now it's up to parents to be rational

OK. So the Intelligent Designers won another one yesterday in Kansas. Why? Go read some of SHG's thoughts on Kansas based on a book he just read.
 
There is one thing very scary in what happened: The definition of Science was changed and no longer includes the phrase natural explanations for..., suggesting that it's OK to teach supernatural explanations. Districts may now teach Intelligent Design.
 
Fine. They may have won the battle, but they will not necessarily win the war.
 
Why not? Because parents are still the greatest influence on the intellectual development of their children. Most parents do not actually support the independent intellectual development of their kids - they make sure the kids are biased, whether they do it actively or passively. They usually to not take an active role. With these new rules, parents opposed to such teachings will either 1. move away, 2. put their kids in private school, or 3. (and most likely) ensure that their kids are exposed to the scientific approach to the development of Life on Earth and the Earth itself and do not accepting blind-faith-based explanations.
 
Had these new guidelines and curriculum options not passed, the people that voted in favor of it would do the same thing in reverse, of course with the extra support of church and church groups. Of course, it is still important to reverse the recent changes forced by the KS School Bored and endorsed by Kansasses in order to enforce rational thought and keep the separation of church and state, but that is not really my point.
 
What it boils down to is that if parents are responsible and take an active role in the intellectual development of their kids, the actual impact of these new rules in minimal. Kansasses now have the curriculum they wanted and voted for. If somebody does not like it, they can fight it, leave, or grumble and bear it while do what a parent is supposed to do: make sure their kids are properly educated, even if that means that have to do some if themselves. This is how you keep "them" from winning the war. Oh, and they did not vote - well, tough shit.