Thousands of schools ... across the country can use taxpayer money to cast doubt on basic science
Hat tip: DCist.com
At Least Two D.C. Schools That Receive Federal Money Teach Creationism
Map: Publicly Funded Schools That Are Allowed to Teach Creationism.
Thousands of schools in states across the country can use taxpayer money to cast doubt on basic science.
By Chris Kirk
A large, publicly funded charter school system in Texas is teaching creationism to its students, Zack Kopplin recently reported in Slate. Creationist teachers dont even need to be sneaky about itthe Texas state science education standards, as well as recent laws in Louisiana and Tennessee, permit public school teachers to teach alternatives to evolution. Meanwhile, in Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, taxpayer money is funding creationist private schools through state tuition voucher or scholarship programs. As the map below illustrates, creationism in schools isnt restricted to schoolhouses in remote villages where the separation of church and state is considered less sacred. If you live in any of these states, theres a good chance your tax money is helping to convince some hapless students that evolution (the basis of all modern biological science, supported by everything we know about geology, genetics, paleontology, and other fields) is some sort of highly contested scientific hypothesis as credible as God did it.
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Correction, Jan. 27, 2014: This article's headlines originally suggested that thousands of public schools in Louisiana and Tennessee are teaching creationism. While those schools are permitted to teach creationism, it is unclear how many are actually teaching it, and the headlines have been updated to reflect this.