Standing against Doomination

One of the reasons I like reading Bad Astronomy Blog is The Bad Astronomer‘s (aka Phil Plait) penchant for calling out states, school boards, educators and who-not trying to push alternative “scientific” theories into schools (which for the most part are fairly thinly veiled attempts at pushing a creationist teaching agenda). Phil does this really well.

I find it all quite amusing, ironic and sad all at the same time (the politicians and their bills, not Phil).

Consider this. You can hardly go a day without hearing someone bashing or criticizing the state of public education, or reading about the latest study on how kids in the US fare so poorly in compared to other countries. Everybody complains about the sorry state of public education in the US (despite the efforts of all the good teachers out there). Yet just about everywhere you turn, there is some politician out there who insists on dumbing down the curriculum even more. They create bills or rules that supposedly allow educators the ‘freedom’ to teach ‘alternative scientific theories’ (we all know what that means) at the expense of the real science.

It’s the Doomination of America I tell you. Doom! DOOM!

Think about it. Instead of letting teachers give kids a real education or trying to improve the state of public education in the country, they want to fill the curriculum with crap. I mean really, what are you thinking! The only thing kids are learning these days is how to pass those stupid standardized tests (and most of them aren’t even doing that!). You want to replace what little science they’re learning with crap and expect more students to pass??!!

Seriously, doesn’t that just make you want to go WTF?

WTF! WTF!

Don’t even get me started on the endless standardized testing and the idiocy that is “No Child Left Behind” either.

I like The Bad Astronomer. Phil’s my hero.

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