So Helen Whalen Cohen (“NCLB Waivers Are Conditional” Townhall, September 24, 2011) tells us:
The Obama administration made waves yesterday with the announcement that states can opt-out of some No Child Left Behind provisions. The states that receive waivers will not have to show that all children are proficient in reading and math by 2014, a main component of NCLB.
Many ID sympathizers have noted with interest a provision of the Act that Senator Rick Santorum (1995-2007) got an amendment adopted:
“The Conferees recognize that a quality science education should prepare students to distinguish the data and testable theories of science from religious or philosophical claims that are made in the name of science.
Where topics are taught that may generate controversy (such as biological evolution), the curriculum should help students to understand the full range of scientific views that exist, why such topics may generate controversy, and how scientific discoveries can profoundly affect society.”
Not that that ever meant anything, or would have been allowed to. The school system is Darwinism’s sweet racket and its last redoubt. Where else – besides universities – can you get people to bellow n’ bray for Darwin – like the human mind was just a monkey’s mind (Darwin’s “horrid thought,” remember)?
The Act, considered in itself as an education act, created the serious problem that recordkeeping became action – that is, part of the problem, not the solution. In the face of inevitable looming failure, the instinct is to ask for an opt out, readily granted before an election.
What’ll be interesting to see is whether the government-funded, enforced Darwin tales become even less restrained now, as an alternative to science. Always think: What would the mediocre teacher do?