LSEA spoils future of an educated Louisiana

Opinion

[4 Comment(s)]

By Anna Heumann

Nearly a year ago, the signature of our own Bobby Jindal enacted the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA) inviting "supplemental" teaching materials to enter public school classrooms that specifically attack the scientific theory of evolution by questioning the origins of life and attempting to disprove Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

Since the LSEA, new legislation pushed the charade further by allowing science teachers to challenge other economic-religious issues like global warming and cloning that are disagreeable in conservative religious and republican circles.

If scientists across the globe agree that evolution theory is fundamental to science, students deserve to know how individuals from non-scientific backgrounds, such as politicians and school board officials, are qualified to challenge the veracity and transmission of the scientific theory of evolution.

Science education is not spared the taint of political agendas. Jindal, after ignoring attempts to veto the LSEA, has advocated and approved the use of aforementioned "supplemental" materials that compromise the quality of education in Louisiana.

Interestingly, Governor Jindal, before embarking on a career in politics, graduated from Brown University with a degree in biology. Could it be that his first class education left him lacking a full understanding of evolution theory's importance in the study of life? Something is missing here. Evolution is not only accepted by scientific minds in higher education, but it is proven to be fundamental to the study of biology.

In view of the legislation based in Louisiana, it is apparent state government does not have the interests of students at heart. Because the governor is sympathetic to fundamentalist views as he caters to them with other political ambitions in mind, it seems citizens will be subjected to frequent legal disputes over newly fueled evolution education disputes and the loss of respect from scientists and others who value science education.

It stands to reason that Jindal's movement to please conservative Protestants in North Louisiana (and not his impartial democratic platform for excellence in science education) is dramatically weakening the quality of schooling for all of Louisiana's students.

The unwillingness of conservative groups and political leaders to support evolution and the inability of creationists to substantiate evidence to their claims leaves too many public school students receiving a "watered-down" discussion of evolutionary theory or nothing at all from teachers and administrators too concerned with not angering parents.

Further, the Louisiana Science Education Act is an absolute embarrassment to all well-educated, thinking people in Louisiana. It's a pity that Louisiana politicians who occupy themselves with undermining science education do not see the harm they are doing to the students of Louisiana and to the State's reputation among educated people throughout the world.

LSU professor in the department of Science Education, Ron Good, explained that as Louisiana continues to respond to the religious efforts to challenge the scientific theory of evolution, "the fundamentalists will use political means to obstruct the scientific theory of evolution from being taught properly in public schools."

Evolutionary theory has greatly improved the fields of medicine, anatomy, archaeology, biology, biochemistry, geology, neuroscience and many other disciplines. Without evolutionary biology, our perception of the natural world would be greatly diminished.

The future of Louisiana's knowledge-based economy, which it needs to survive, can be sustained only if its citizens demand that religion be left out of science class. I urge that embracing the scientific theory of evolution is fundamental to the critical understanding and progress of future generations in Louisiana.

Originally Published: Issue 806 - July 1, 2009

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