| # | Name | Comments |
|---|
| 1751 | James F. Jones | All religions are between a person and his/her god and are not to be confused with running civilations. After all, we toppled a theocracy in Afghanistan, are worried about possible development of problems in Iraq and the influence of Iran. Why push for one in America? |
| 1752 | Pete Dunkelberg | Dear BOE,
The Department of Education did a very careful job on the new Science Standards. We can get an A this time, provided we don't mess up at the last minute.
Alas, some folks want to put Creationism in the standards. Of course the fashion these days is not to call it creationism. Even the term intelligent design is going out. Now they just call it "Faults of biology" or "scientific objections to evolution" or something like that. Calling it different names, or claiming it has nothing to do with a religious view, will not hold up in court.
You don't normally say in the standards to teach unspecified objections or an unspecified "other side" to something. How would you know what, exactly, to teach, or how to test it?
But we know what happens in other states. All those general phrases are taken as license to teach anything in the creationist literature. And that literature is a vast mishmash of false claims and bad arguments. It's also darn confusing to beginners. Yet perhaps 30 percent of teachers would actually do it, if given a green light. Some will do it anyway.
How can we tell right now that this creationism, or weakness of biology as they call it, is bad stuff? Take a clue from the recent creationism trial in Dover, Pennsylvania. The professional creationists, who write this stuff and get folks all fired up, would not defend it under oath, except for one little part that they call irreducible complexity. And that's just a misleading name for co adapted parts, which is something evolution is bound to lead to. So that claim did not get far.
The same thing would happen to us in Florida. The big time creationists would egg us on and then desert us and leave us looking like fools.
Surely we can't ask out teachers to teach stuff that cannot be defended under oath. We can't.
So what's left? All that is left for us is for all of us to get behind our good new science standards. My friends, let's all do that, and help Florida make an A this time!
Thank you.
Pete Dunkelberg
Orlando |
| 1753 | Anonymous | |
| 1754 | Joseph E Carpentino, Ph.D. | |
| 1755 | Leland Platt | I have a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Divinity degree. I practiced engineering for a number of years before going to seminary and entering the ministry of Jesus Christ. I believe strongly that evolution is only further evidence of our Creator God's creative power. Evolution is supported by science and by the Almighty. I don't know whether the opportunity would arise for me to live in Florida, but I can tell you anyhow that excluding evolution from a science curriculum would quickly convince me that Florida is not a place where I would want to either live or visit. |
| 1756 | Aaron B. Krosnick | |
| 1757 | John R. Hopper | Let's keep teaching sound science, not someone idea of what they think science should be. |
| 1758 | Carey Kersten | |
| 1759 | Zachary Eldredge | |
| 1760 | Greg Marshall | Leave metaphysics to the philosophers and the clergy! If one is to teach SCIENCE, it must be devoid of points of view that are "faith based"! Faith is defined as the belief in something WITHOUT evidence - the antithesis of scientific study! Admittedly, like the atomic theory, the theory of evolution still has unexplainable areas. We should no more discard evolution as a theory than discontinue our present understanding and study of the atom! |
| 1761 | Debbie Delgado | |
| 1762 | leslie pierpont | |
| 1763 | Anne Showalter | |
| 1764 | Louise Barker | |
| 1765 | Lindsey Lee | |
| 1766 | Timothy McDougald | Having majored in anthropology in school, I am concerned about the ability of teachers to teach current thinking on the subject of human origins. Without an evolutionary framework, understanding who we are and where we came from is impossible. |
| 1767 | Kathleen Hubbard | Please do not include the term intelligent design in any Public School document. There is no positive scientific proof to back up this theory and therefore should NOT be included in Florida's Education Standards. |
| 1768 | Anonymous | I learned at Baylor University of all places that "creation science" is not only bad science, it's bad theology. |
| 1769 | Dirk Van Tuerenhout | |
| 1770 | Anonymous | Scientific literacy is in decline. I just wrote a book-Beyond the Science/Religion debate (amazon.com, etc..) -debunking some of the creationists myths. |
| 1771 | Cameron Peters | |
| 1772 | Rafael Nepomechie | |
| 1773 | Arlette Chew | |
| 1774 | Pam DeMent | |
| 1775 | Elissa Hoffman | |
| 1776 | Brian Ford | |
| 1777 | Bill Winter | |
| 1778 | Tracy | |
| 1779 | Jason Trent | |
| 1780 | Jill Gregerson | |
| 1781 | Richard Rasmussen | |
| 1782 | Christopher King | Science standards should reflect science! |
| 1783 | Janice Rael | Teach science in science class. |
| 1784 | Greg Erkes | Please keep science, science |
| 1785 | Rick O'Shea | |
| 1786 | James L. O'Connor | For the sake of the children and the future of our country, please don't set our country's education system back to the Dark Ages. |
| 1787 | Regina Ledbetter | |
| 1788 | Gunarso Nguyen | |
| 1789 | Susan P. Mitchell | Please keep the sciences strong in order to maintain a well educated labor force in Florida and the entire United States. |
| 1790 | Roger K. Strickland | Let's teach facts as we best understand them, not superstition. We no longer burn witches, stone unfaithful spouses, or treat left-handed children as the devil's prodigy. Keep religion in the home & church; don't spend my tax dollars to support a religion that is not mine. |
| 1791 | CAROL MAY | I ACCEPT THAT ONLY EVOLUTION IS THE CENTRAL ORGANIZING CONCEPT THAT ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND ALL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES FROM MEDICINE TO FORESTRY TO ENTOMOLOGY, AND ITS PRINCIPLES ARE THE THEORETICAL BASIS THAT UNDERLIES MAJOR ADVANCES IN ALL BIOLOGICAL FIELDS. STUDENTS MUST UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT STATE OF THE SCIENCE TO BE PART OF AN INFORMED CITIZENRY.
IN A HIGHLY TECHNOLOGICAL AND COMPETITIVE WORLD WHY ARE WE TRYING TO HOBBLE OUR CHILDREN WITH THEORIES OF SUPERSTITIOUS AND SUPERNATURAL ORIGIN. |
| 1792 | beth p | |
| 1793 | Darrell E. Ernst Jr. | Please! Help us move forward, instead of sliding backwards. |
| 1794 | Michael Trent | Let science be science. |
| 1795 | Stacy L Mason | |
| 1796 | Donald Ray Frakes | Keep up the good work and don't let superstitious beliefs inter into our classrooms.
We've got fossils, we win! |
| 1797 | Sabrina McLaughlin | |
| 1798 | Remy Okazaki | |
| 1799 | Anonymous | |
| 1800 | Steven Shivers, Ph.D. | |