Non-science beliefs blind more states
http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20120129/OPINION/201290324/Non-science-beliefs-blind-more-states?odyssey=nav%7Chead
State politics probably will be dominated over the next few months by Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan to make public schools better. Teacher standards are getting tougher, tenure will be harder to get, seniority will count for much less, and Louisiana would be the nation's biggest experiment yet with publicly financed vouchers to pay for private schools.
Argue with the politics if you want, but it's a big solution for a big problem: Louisiana's lagging public school performance. Who's to say it isn't worth a shot?
Sadly, though, the Jindal reforms aren't Louisiana's only legacy to American public education. At the same time changes are being proposed to raise student achievement, other states are taking up measures enacted here that send could send science education back to the Stone Age. Provided, of course, you believe in the Stone Age.
The Louisiana Science Education Act, passed in 2008 and signed by the governor, encourages teachers to critique certain scientific thinking. Among the targets are climate change and evolution. The effect would be to put non-scientific responses to those ideas like global warming denial and intelligent design on a par with the real deal.