Re: paleonet More creationist problems in America

[Nancy Meyer <marsglow@xxxxxxxxx>]

When my daughter was in high school, she was "taught" that
the Holocaust didn't happen.  I demanded that she be moved
into a class with someone who was going to teach real
history, not fantasy.  The principal was not cooperative. 
This has got to stop somewhere.
--- Paul Blake <p.blake@bigpond.net.au> wrote:

> Re: paleonet Bible Belt creationists threaten IMAX film
> infrom
> http://www.alligator.org/pt2/050323freedom.php
> 
> CAPITOL BILL AIMS TO CONTROL 'LEFTIST' PROFS.
> THE LAW COULD LET STUDENTS SUE FOR UNTOLERATED BELIEFS.
> 
> By JAMES VANLANDINGHAM
> Alligator Staff Writer
> 
> TALLAHASSEE - Republicans on the House Choice and
> Innovation Committee voted
> along party lines Tuesday to pass a bill that aims to
> stamp out "leftist
> totalitarianism" by "dictator professors" in the
> classrooms of Florida's
> universities.
> 
> The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights, sponsored by Rep.
> Dennis Baxley,
> R-Ocala, passed 8-to-2 despite strenuous objections from
> the only two
> Democrats on the committee.
> 
> The bill has two more committees to pass before it can be
> considered by the
> full House.
> 
> While promoting the bill Tuesday, Baxley said a
> university education should
> be more than "one biased view by the professor, who as a
> dictator controls
> the classroom," as part of "a misuse of their platform to
> indoctrinate the
> next generation with their own views."
> 
> The bill sets a statewide standard that students cannot
> be punished for
> professing beliefs with which their professors disagree.
> Professors would
> also be advised to teach alternative "serious academic
> theories" that may
> disagree with their personal views.
> 
> According to a legislative staff analysis of the bill,
> the law would give
> students who think their beliefs are not being respected
> legal standing to
> sue professors and universities.
> 
> Students who believe their professor is singling them out
> for "public
> ridicule" - for instance, when professors use the
> Socratic method to force
> students to explain their theories in class - would also
> be given the right
> to sue.
> 
> "Some professors say, 'Evolution is a fact. I don't want
> to hear about
> Intelligent Design (a creationist theory), and if you
> don't like it, there's
> the door,'" Baxley said, citing one example when he
> thought a student should
> sue.
> 
> Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, warned of lawsuits from
> students enrolled in
> Holocaust history courses who believe the Holocaust never
> happened.
> 
> Similar suits could be filed by students who don't
> believe astronauts landed
> on the moon, who believe teaching birth control is a sin
> or even by Shands
> medical students who refuse to perform blood transfusions
> and believe prayer
> is the only way to heal the body, Gelber added.
> 
> "This is a horrible step," he said. "Universities will
> have to hire lawyers
> so our curricula can be decided by judges in courtrooms.
> Professors might
> have to pay court costs - even if they win - from their
> own pockets. This is
> not an innocent piece of legislation."
> 
> The staff analysis also warned the bill may shift
> responsibility for
> determining whether a student's freedom has been
> infringed from the faculty
> to the courts.
> 
> But Baxley brushed off Gelber's concerns. "Freedom is a
> dangerous thing, and
> you might be exposed to things you don't want to hear,"
> he said. "Being a
> businessman, I found out you can be sued for anything.
> Besides, if students
> are being persecuted and ridiculed for their beliefs, I
> think they should be
> given standing to sue."
> 
> During the committee hearing, Baxley cast opposition to
> his bill as
> "leftists" struggling against "mainstream society."
> 
> "The critics ridicule me for daring to stand up for
> students and faculty,"
> he said, adding that he was called a McCarthyist.
> 
> Baxley later said he had a list of students who were
> discriminated against
> by professors, but refused to reveal names because he
> felt they would be
> persecuted.
> 
> Rep. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, argued universities and
> the state Board of
> Governors already have policies in place to protect
> academic freedom.
> Moreover, a state law outlining how professors are
> supposed to teach would
> encroach on the board's authority to manage state
> schools.
> 
> "The big hand of state government is going into the
> universities telling
> them how to teach," she said. "This bill is the
> antithesis of academic
> freedom."
> 
> But Baxley compared the state's universities to children,
> saying the
> legislature should not give them money without providing
> "guidance" to their
> behavior.
> 
> "Professors are accountable for what they say or do," he
> said. "They're
> accountable to the rest of us in society . All of a
> sudden the faculty think
> they can do what they want and shut us out. Why is it so
> unheard of to say
> the professor shouldn't be a dictator and control that
> room as their
> totalitarian niche?"
> 
> In an interview before the meeting, Baxley said
> "arrogant, elitist academics
> are swarming" to oppose the bill, and media reports
> misrepresented his
> intentions.
> 
> "I expect to be out there on my own pretty far," he said.
> "I don't expect to
> be part of a team."
> 
> House Bill H-837 can be viewed online at
> www.flsenate.gov.
> 
> 
> Regards
> Paul Blake
> http://users.bigpond.net.au/paul_blake/
> --------------------------------------
> Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does
> knowledge: it is those
> who know little, and not those who know much, who so
> positively assert that
> this or that problem will never be solved by science. -
> Charles Darwin
> --------------------------------------
> 
> 
> > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
> Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.8.1 - Release
> Date: 23/03/2005
> 


"The United States is in no sense founded upon the Christian religion." - George Washington


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Make Yahoo! your home page 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs