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Originally Posted by alansmithee
Obviously we have a political scholar in our midst  . Most people refer to a country with popular elections as democratic in regular discussion. I didn't say our political system was a democracy. If you failed to understand my usage of the word, that is a personal problem and not a reflection on MY education.
In a republic, those elected are put in place to represent the will of the people, not to rule indiscriminatly. If people have a problem with how some public affair is being handled, there are often direct referendums on to what should be done. They are usually labelled as "proposals" on a ballot. Suprisingly enough, these suggestions often become law :gasp:. So if a group of parents are not satisfied with how their publicly-funded school is being run they can make their opinions known to the democratically elected representitives to do something, or make a proposal. |
I appologize, I was a little agitated when I wrote my post, and shouldn't have worded it the way I did. My point is that around the founding of our country, our forefathers didn't think that the population at large was intelligent enough to make many decisions regarding government. That's why we have elections, and politicians. Supposedly, knowledgeble, intelligent people are elected into office to run our country. In practice, there are many flaws with this system, but as is pointed out by many, the system still works pretty well.
I would venture to say that the population at large has no grasp of Science at all. That the so called "average Joe" barely remembers the last Science class they have taken, if they've taken one at all. Why can't the population learn to trust Scientists who have a proven track record of results to determine what should and shouldn't be taught in grade school?
Every time the Creationism topic is brought, there are invariably two or three Scientists from the National Academy of Sciences or some other prestigous organization who try to act as the voice of reason, and try to explain why Evolution is a superiour theory to all that have come before it, and why Creationsim and ID in particular are so lacking as scientific theories. Just as invariably, the Young Earth Creationism Conservative Christians (let's face it, these people are not exactly a diverse group) trot out some crazy from whatever cellar they keep them locked in, who's never published in any respected peer reviewed Journal in their lives, and calls that person an example of the Many-Scientists-Who-Support-Our-Theory.
I can appreciate that this country historically distrusts government and Overriding Authorities, but seriously, this is starting to become a huge problem. In the past, Creationists have been relegated to the shadows, marginalized and ignored. With the rise of power of the Christian Coalition in Washington and their brand of Christian Ultraconservatives, I'm really afraid that this is going to be very bad for the US in general. I think that they are trying to make up for their past marginalization by forcing themselves into the classrooms, and in the process, damage what little educational sanity is left in this country.
Seriously, how is a country who's economy is so dependant on technology supposed to support itself if it's children are graduating high school without understanding the fundamental differences between Science and Psuedoscience? If certain voting blocks in this country keep trying to confuse children by inserting nonsensical and useless garbage into the Science curriculum?
EDIT: inserted some linebreaks for readability