After months of heated debate, the Kansas State Board of Education officially thumbed its nose at the scientific community. Under the state's newly adopted science standards, Kansas schoolchildren will now be taught (we're not making this up) that not all scientific occurrences have "natural" explanations. Of course, the theory of evolution is the first bedrock principle to suffer under this new approach, but surely others will follow:
- Benjamin Franklin was wrong: Lightning really is an act of divine retribution
- Galileo Update: We are the center of the universe after all
- Know that wart on your hand that won't go away? It really is the toad's fault
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, voters in Dover threw out all the local school board members who favored the teaching of intelligent design in science classrooms. Now that is a sign of intelligence.
"Kansas School Board Approves Controversial Science Standards," by Jodi Wilgoren, New York Times, November 8, 2005