Pedaling backwards as fast as we can

Here is a very disturbing story about the teaching of evolution (not!) in Arkansas. Long, but worth the read. By the way, these people are in violation of their own state educational standards, although I'm sure that they'll fix that if they can – by changing the standards, of course, a la Kansas.

I keep meaning to write some of that "original material" that is supposedly copyrighted at the bottom of the page, apart from book reviews, but it just never seems to happen.

Teachers at his facility are forbidden to use the “e-word” (evolution)with the kids. They are permitted to use the word “adaptation” but only to refer to a current characteristic of an organism, not as a product of evolutionary change via natural selection. They cannot even use the term “natural selection.” Bob feared that not being able to use evolutionary terms and ideas to answer his students’ questions would lead to reinforcement of their misconceptions.

But Bob’s personal issue was more specific, and the prohibition more insidious. In his words, “I am instructed NOT to use hard numbers when telling kids how old rocks are. I am supposed to say that these rocks are VERY VERY OLD ... but I am NOT to say that these rocks are thought to be about 300 million years old.”

As a person with a geology background, Bob found this restriction hard to justify, especially since the new Arkansas educational benchmarks for 5th grade include introduction of the concept of the 4.5-billion-year age of the earth. Bob’s facility is supposed to be meeting or exceeding those benchmarks.