Surprise! Louisiana’s Creationism Law Has Let Creationism Sneak Into Public Schools… and There’s Proof April 21, 2015

Surprise! Louisiana’s Creationism Law Has Let Creationism Sneak Into Public Schools… and There’s Proof

Last year, Slate‘s Chris Kirk showed us a map documenting where taxpayer money can legally be used to espouse Creationism, whether through charter schools or public schools:

Oh, Louisiana…

Zack Kopplin says that this is still a major problem in his home state and he can prove it.

There’s the letter signed by nearly two dozen current and former faculty members of the Ouachita Parish School Board saying that the Louisiana law has given them permission to challenge evolution without fear of repercussion:

Our science policy gives us the opportunity to discuss those views, held by our students, in light of scientific fact and to bring up scientific questions that challenge current scientific “theories.”

We are able to scientifically answer questions and show how widely held “theories” have discrepancies in them. We are able to do this without any tension or fear thanks to our parish science policy.

There are also the emails — public records — that discuss Creationism:

Two West Monroe High School science teachers, Kyle Hill and Jessica Wyatt, discussed questions for their students to promote higher-order thinking skills. Promoting critical thinking is one of the main political arguments for the Louisiana Science Education Act, and these teachers interpreted it to mean — as the designers of the act intended — an invitation to teach creationism. One question they came up with was: “Name an evolutionary change that would support both the big bang theory and creationism?” The answer: “snake leg nubbs.”

Oh, it just gets worse from there.

Tomorrow, Kopplin says, the state’s Senate Education Committee “will consider a new bill to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act,” which is the act allowing Creationism to sneak into the schools under the guise of “teaching the controversy”… even though no such controversy exists in the world of science. LSEA needs to be repealed, and Senate Bill 74 could do it. Unless it’s dismissed by the education committee, as it’s been for the past four years

If you live in Louisiana, please contact your elected officials and tell them to support this bill.

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