Florida Citizens for Science has issued a press release concerning the "evolution academic freedom act" that will be considered by the Florida Senate's Judiciary Committee this Tuesday.
The bill was approved last month by a 4-1 vote in the Pre-K-12 Education committee.
According to the FlCfS press release, the bill is both "needless and treacherous."
Why is it needless?
The bills serve no secular, academic purpose. Freedom of academic inquiry is already provided for in the new state science standards, approved by the Florida Board of Education in February. The Pre-K-12 committee's own bill analysis, prepared in advance of the meeting, clearly highlighted this fact. The bill proponents' call for "academic freedom" is a political ploy that attempts to paint anyone in opposition to it as un-American and against education. Academic freedom, as commonly used and understood, does not apply to the public school classroom, but rather applies to university level research. Students in high school are certainly not doing cutting-edge research. Instead, they're learning what real researchers have discovered so that one day these students can then explore their own new frontiers.
Why is it treacherous?
These bills, if approved, will eventually invite expensive lawsuits during a time when our state is in a financial crisis. An ACLU representative who spoke at the Pre-K-12 committee's meeting warned the legislators about this. Ignoring such a warning is irresponsible and does not serve the public's or Florida students' best interests. Sen. Ronda Storms, who introduced the Senate bill, is quoted in the St. Petersburg Times on March 11: "Under this bill, if you have a teacher who is pro-evolution and every student is intelligent design...that teacher is safe to teach that as a theory."
One obvious clue that the promoters of this bill are not really concerned with "academic freedom" is the simple fact that they single out evolution. No other scientific theories are receiving this degree of special treatment. Such blatant selective criticism reveals an underlying concern about evolution in particular, not a genuine concern for scientific accuracy or academic freedom.
This bill is clearly a "Dover Trap" designed to encourage teachers in local school districts to teach antievolution arguments in the name of "academic freedom." It's a pity that some unassuming local school district is likely to get caught with the legal bill if this leads to a court case.
posted by Jeremy Mohn
