Yeah! Go Michigan. Senator Bill Hardiman, from Grand Rapids (go figure, huh?), is sponsoring one of these ‘academic freedom’ bills. Now, he will be the first to tell you, and anyone who will listen, this is not an anti-evolution bill. This bill is, well in the interview(itunes link) he stumbled over what exactly it is supposed to be. Basically, the bill, as he sees it, is designed to allow students to challenge any theory scientifically. Scientist argue that the theory of Intelligent Design is not valid scientifically, so Creationists have decided to argue that the theory of evolution is not valid either.

This is an argument, and that is all it is; you’re wrong, I am right. Neither side will EVER except the proof the other side. We live in a world where truth is for hire. We no longer search for answers, but we write out an hypothesis and only present the data that proves our theory. You’ve seen it on your courtroom drama television series, the prosecutor hires an expert to testify and the defense gets their own expert to say the opposite.

I find it interesting that the Creationists approach has been to thinly veil the whole thing. First they put forth the term ‘Intelligent Design,’ and now they have all but let go of that term to just get ‘academic freedom’ for students. This bill introduced in Michigan has many cousins introduced in other states all fueled by the the Discovery Institute’s Wedge manifesto. What is ‘academic freedom?’ Senator Hardiman talks like it will allow teachers to discuss theories other than evolution. The bill will not only promote discussion of other theories in the classroom but allow students and teachers to challenge the theory of evolution.

I have several problems with this legislation. Not too long ago a co-worker of mine described a problem his son was having at school. My co-worker stated to me, he told his son, “Too bad, whether you agree with the teacher or not, you have to listen to him and do as he says.” I forget the actual issue, but what remained in my memory from this conversation is my co-worker’s claim, “School is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship.” I thought those were some strong words, but he was speaking of Elementary, Jr. High & High School and he’s right. At those levels, education and discipline go hand and hand. Giving students at that level the legal right to challenge the material is wrong. In any classroom, discussion and debate are great because it means that the students are involved, but having a student demand a legal right in the middle of your lecture is just ridiculous.

This brings me to another point, school is also about ‘preparing you for college.’ Now, if you are headed to the ministry after school, learning evolution may not be useful to you. However, I believe most of the state funded colleges are going to expect you to know something about evolution. Education is structured for a reason and if you throw a curve ball in there you have to make the changes down the line. I thought our education goals in this country were to get everyone at the same level. Isn’t that what No Child Left Behind was about? We don’t want a third of our children learning one thing and the rest learning another do we? This is why they are PUBLIC schools, an equal chance for every citizen, no matter race or economic situation to get an education.

Look, there’s this thing called, Separation of Church & State. If you want your child to learn about Creationism, it sounds like you might not be happy with many other PUBLIC school policies. Perhaps you should send them to a private school that fits your needs. Those of us troubled with the beliefs of organized religion have usually kept to ourselves in situations where others may have operated on the assumption that everyone in the room was a Christian. I think in the case of learning the theory of evolution a Christian could keep themselves quiet in return. Seriously, so much of our public and government policies have been hijacked by Christians taking up the fight, the idea of Freedom of Religion is under attack also. I know people who practice Buddhism, Hinduism & Islam, but they don’t dare speak up, they are hiding like atheists for fear of being thrown to the lions.

Lastly, this is only going to set a precedent for more challenges to public education. A future Senator will claim, “I don’t understand why students have to learn a foreign language, they live in America, don’t they? They ought to be learnin’ American.” Perhaps more science will come in question, “Everyone knows meteorology is not science, God and the angels are bowling up there in the clouds, has nothing to do with charged particles and cold fronts.”

Even more disturbing then my subject matter is the fact that I found no mention of this bill on the Internet during my search. I had to put up with Jack Lessenberry, who I find sophomoric, for any information on this subject. So, does this bill not have a chance, and that is why it is not mentioned? Maybe this is a great time for them to introduce it because we are all so focused on the Michigan economy?

If this bill does go through, I am having a baby. Back in college (the first time), I wrote my own creation myth for mythology class. I will raise my child with this myth and have her present her beliefs in class. She’ll be telling them all about how Boss Hog and Uncle Jesse created Daisy Duke and the rest of the world. Then, when she gets laughed at, I’ll sue the school and the parents of every child that laughed because that’s the sort of sue-happy world we live in today. A world where truth is no longer discovered, but bought and paid for.