Florida schools await board’s vote on evolution

Nearly 150 years after Charles Darwin revolutionized biology, evolution will become required study in Florida classrooms if the state Board of Education approves new science standards Tuesday that explicitly names the ”E” word for the first time. (…)

Naturally that is just outrageous. Sure, it’s a widely accepted fact that evolution is what governs pretty much any hard science out there, but it’s not in the Bible. So how could it be true? Enter outraged mob:

Their refrain: The new standards need to call evolution a ”theory,” so that evolution does not appear to be the fact that mainstream science says it is.

The outcry at so many public hearings led the Florida Department of Education to schedule an extra hour of public testimony and, late Friday, offer an alternate version of the standards that calls every theory a ”Scientific Theory” — whether it’s about evolution or atoms — and identifies every natural law as such.

Many want more. One expert who sat on the framers committee that formed the standards wants the board to consider his ”minority report” to teach kids about scientific differences over evolution. Lori Muller, a mother from St. Augustine, said at a Monday public hearing in Orlando that she liked this idea.

“Just by tweaking some of the words in the standard, we can all win,” Muller said. “We are not supposed to be pushing any secret and biased agenda, but just making sure the children of Florida receive the best education possible.” Miami Herald

This will henceforth be known as the “Scientific Theory of how the United States lost its leading edge in science.”