Comments on Quick Takes: Defeat for Evolution in Kansas, Income Decline Projected, U. of Colorado Foundation Criticized, 12 to Receive U.S. Humanities Medals, Senate Proposes Extension of College Tax Break

• Posted by David on November 9, 2005 at 9:57am EST

• If you stand in a wheat field in Kansas, and listen very carefully...you can hear the I.Q. levels drop. It is a shame to have students leave the classroom more ignorant than when they enter. On the bright side, this could take the sting out of drooping diploma rates. But it doesn't matter how dumb our population gets, there will always be room for them on the Christian right.

• Thinking people will flee Kansas
• Posted by Arthur Ide, PhD on November 9, 2005 at 10:14am EST

• The Kansas school board has committed the state to a rapid return to the dark ages of myth, mystery, and malevolence. Any industry, business, or venture would be foolish to hire any Kansas graduate if it needs the advancement of science in its products or presentation. Kansas is now without any redemption. It is now an intellectual wasteland.

• Interesting Juxtaposition
• Posted by Brian C. Ladd on November 9, 2005 at 12:49pm EST

• The positioning of the first two bullets in the news is certainly interesting. Kansas retreats into religion and the educational level of Americans is predicted to decline. Coincidence? I think not.

• Posted by JD on November 9, 2005 at 12:50pm EST

• Maybe Kansas should start teaching the geocentric model of universe as well.

• Dear Arthur,
• Posted by David on November 9, 2005 at 12:50pm EST

• This may be evidence they have already fled.

• Posted by Gabriel Austin on November 9, 2005 at 12:51pm EST

• And someday David will learn that "dumb" is not the same as "stupid".
  Curious that the ID people are considered "malevolent". Is it not rather the Evolution people who have a "I got mine, tough on you" attitude?

• Look at the first two on the list...
• Posted by R. Wilt on November 9, 2005 at 12:53pm EST

• Does anyone see a relationship between the first two items on the above list? Legislatures (and legislators) are seeing that it is more important for them to decide WHAT to teach than to provide the resources for basic education.

• Speak for yourself...
• Posted by JJM on November 9, 2005 at 4:10pm EST

• There's no monkeys in my heritage. Explain this one to me: How can a material philosophy (evolution) explain immaterial entities (the laws of logic). Have fun with that one.

• Kansas
• Posted by Angie , Librarian on November 9, 2005 at 9:22pm EST

• Whos there! I know my home state looks like every knuckle dragging, cave dwelling evolutionary throwback decided to move in, but that really isn't the case. These clowns WILL be voted off the school board double-quick. How they got there in the first place is a long story. (The upshot is that KS school board elections do not received adequate press coverage.)

• Posted by Thane Doss on November 11, 2005 at 4:35am EST

• The clowns got voted out, but then got voted back in. If you don't want people to destroy education, you must be vigilant and diligent about voting responsible people in. Of course, that's what makes all of democracy work or fail. Unfortunately, the average voter has a pretty extensive list of races to pay attention to, and lots of distractions (and working time) to get in the way of doing research.

  At any rate, I applaud Sue Gamble and her three colleagues on the KS Board who voted against this, fought against it, and continue the good fight.

  (The KS Board of Education's website has email addresses for all the Board's members, though it doesn't say who voted for and who voted against.)

  Thane Doss, Tokyo

• Not that much damage
• Posted by Larry on November 14, 2005 at 2:26pm EST

• Well, the upshot of it is this:

  1) Colleges don’t really care if students have adequate biology training. Most students don’t take real biology courses. They take “earth science” or some other watered-down crap, and nobody will be able to tell whether they had Sunday school instead of a real biology class in high school.

  2) People that matter and people that want their kids to be PhDs or MDs will send their kids to private schools, anyway if they find out that Christian dogma is being taught instead of bio.

  The only people that would really suffer is the narrow group of poor kids that would be exposed to the intellectual beauty of biology in a demanding high school biology course that was not infested with bible stories. I think there probably are 300 of those kids per year nationwide. (Probably 5 or so in Kansas). Not that many.