Spinning the science standards debate
This week on Panda’s Thumb there's a post by Marshall Berman and Dave Thomas that point by point -- and fact by fact – picks apart the claims by the Discovery Institute that they have been successful in their campaigns to get their “teach the controversy” agenda into science education standards in New Mexico and other states.
Bottom line: When they failed to convince school boards to revise science education standards to their liking, they went into spin mode, framing the results to make it sound as though they had weakened the position of evolution in the curriculum -- and getting the main stream press to repeat the fib.
The responses by state officials to the DI’s claims make it clear they have no intention of backing down when it comes to ensuring students will get a solid education. The lengthy post is not as “entertaining” as the breathless coverage in the popular press, but it sure is an encouraging read.
Bottom line: When they failed to convince school boards to revise science education standards to their liking, they went into spin mode, framing the results to make it sound as though they had weakened the position of evolution in the curriculum -- and getting the main stream press to repeat the fib.
The responses by state officials to the DI’s claims make it clear they have no intention of backing down when it comes to ensuring students will get a solid education. The lengthy post is not as “entertaining” as the breathless coverage in the popular press, but it sure is an encouraging read.
posted by Gerry L at 7:55 PM
1 Comments:
Gerry, great to find a like mind. I know there are plenty of us out here and it's imperative that we speak up. Haven't read enough of your work to see if you ever read Phanyngula, by PZ Myers, but here's http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/there_aint_nothin_there/ one of his recent related posts about what's up here in California. It's almost comical - but sad for the youth. Keep up the good work!
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