Senior Zack Kopplin, age 17, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is leading the charge against a law that allows creationism to have equal time with evolution in Louisiana high schools. Kopplin attends Baton Rouge Magnet High School, and has been leading a campaign against the state’s Science Education Act since last summer. He has organized students, faculties, clergy, and business leaders to support the repeal of the law and has the support of at least 40 Nobel laureates.
According to Washington Post:
The single most important reason why I took on this repeal was jobs,” Kopplin told me. “This law makes it harder for Louisiana students to get cutting-edge science-based jobs after we graduate, because companies like Baton Rouge’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center are not going to trust our science education with this law on the books.”
He also won the support of major scientists and national and local organizations in support of the repeal; more than 40 Nobel laureates signed a letter that was just sent to the Louisiana Legislature. The National Association of Biology Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Biology Educators also back Kopplin’s campaign.
“The repeal has been rapidly gaining momentum over the last year,” Kopplin said in an email. “People are calling and asking their legislators to take a stand for accurate and evidence-based science. People are driving in from as far away as Shreveport for our rally.
“I believe that this repeal will pass this year. Louisiana students want to be taught science that will prepare them to get jobs in today’s global economy,” he said.
Governor Bobby Jindal opposes the repeal of the law. The article did not say how science achievement is tested since all students in the state would have have necessarily been taught the same material. Why would colleges or businesses hire people for science jobs if they had not had science?
Creationism is faith–one’s religion. Evolution is science. Why would faith be taught in science class? Why would Louisiana and other states allow religion to be taught in place of science? It has been nearly 86 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial. Why is this debate still continuing to erode science education? Schools need to teach science and churches can teach religion. Good luck to Zack Kopplin in his attempt to drag Louisiana education into the 21st century. The students of Louisana deserve an equal education that is not based on which teacher they get or where they go to school.
where does the nea and lord obama stand on all this? pick your battles, i guess
I have no idea. I would suspect the NEA would stand on the side of science being taught in science class instead of religion being taught in place of science.
who cares? One 17 year old is leading the charge against a law and it’s national news? Don’t we have bigger fish to fry?
I care. Intelligent young people will shape the future direction of this country and the world at large. Those with courage and conviction will be the leaders, and it’s monumentally newsworthy to highlight their efforts.
So, when a teenager combats the global warming hoax, its news, right? Because that’s just as newsworthy.
@DC
Did you say the same thing about Mark Zuckerberg? He was just a kid.
If the USA is going to remain a world leader, its citizenry needs to be educated. Science is entirely too important to become faith-based.
So …I care. I care a great deal and so should you. On the other hand, if you are comfortable with an earth-centric point of world view and don’t mind putting great scientists under house arrest like Galileo, then have at the magic show.
i agree, science is entirely too important to become faith-based. all instruction in the dogma of global warming, social justice through confiscation and redistribution of wealth, same-sex marriage and the acceptance of a gay lifestyle as normal, and other articles of faith of the progressive mindset should be jettisoned forthwith from the classroom
@e
Do you ever get sick of the bs and blather?
You really have no idea what you are saying, do you?
Cargo, you are from Louisiana. What did you study in science class? Was this anti evolution law in affect when you were in school?
so much of liberal dogma is based on faith, the faith of liberal progressivism. teaching creationism in the classroom is idiotic, but so is a whole lot of other blather being passed as accepted fact and doctrine, to the point of the high priest of global warming, al goreleone, deriding deniers of his faith as quack outliers. karl marx and his modern day acolytes believe that all of human interaction and relationship can be boiled down to the haves screwing the have-nots, and that by seizing from the haves we can bring peace and eternal harmony upon the whole planet. again, an article of faith not borne out by any objective reality. bottom line, liberal progressives are deluded by their psuedo-religious belief that they can change the world and bring heaven on earth, and thus they deride and ridicule conservatives who have a deep underlying understanding and grasp of how the world really turns: that heaven on earth will not happen in this world, that evil will always lurk in the hearts of some men, and that evil must be confronted, that we are afforded equal opportunity for all, but not necessarily guaranteed equal outcomes, that unless we all want to go back to the stone age we must drill for oil and not demonize the suppliers and producers of energy, the list goes on. the facts of life are conservative (margaret thatcher)
e, you really are just full of crap. Stick to the topic.
Cargo? where are you?
@Moon-howler
We studied evolution in public school. We studied evolution in science class in Catholic school.
The law, I think, was enacted after I graduated. It seems to be a recent law.
I think that its stupid. Creationism is not science.
Next time a creationist wants an antibiotic, the doc should ask them if they want the penicillin or the antibiotic that kills penicillin resistant germs. Because, of course, evolution doesn’t exist.
I think we agree. I don’t have a problem with people’s personal beliefs. I have a problem teaching faith as science.
Why do you say evolution doesn’t exist? Blind fish in a cave is proof enough for me. I will say that it is far more complicated than the word ‘evolution’ implies.
I also don’t feel one’s acknowledgement of science prevents one from also believing that the Almighty had a hand in things. I just don’t think it should be part of science education.
Love it Cargo!
@Moon-howler
Um…..I said that as a joke…..?
Ok…I was wondering…@Cargo.
So we agree? (is the earth reversing direction?)
@Moon-howler
Oh, and nothing e said was wrong. A little harsh, but absolutely correct.
@Cargo,
e said something? Am I going to have to scroll back?
@Cargo,
What do you mean nothing e said was wrong? What did he say that was right? In the first place, my eyes glazed over in the diatribe. Secondly, teaching creationism as science is wrong. Personal beliefs are not science. Furthermore, I doubt seriously if he has much of an idea what is being taught in classrooms. If that is what he thinks, he is dead wrong.
Plus he was off topic. The diatribe was incorrect and extremely insulting.
progressivism’s idea that if only experts ran everything from a central point, that there is
manmade global warming as per Al Gore and that following their ideas will fix it if there is, and the philosophy of Karl Marx that communistic thought will make a paradise
In his words, “liberal progressives are deluded by their psuedo-religious belief that they can change the world and bring heaven on earth, and thus they deride and ridicule conservatives who have a deep underlying understanding and grasp of how the world really turns: that heaven on earth will not happen in this world, that evil will always lurk in the hearts of some men, and that evil must be confronted, that we are afforded equal opportunity for all, but not necessarily guaranteed equal outcomes,”
is exactly right. Progressives of all stripes believe this. It will not happen. Socialism ultimately leads to death for someone. History proves that.
I think you both have been smoking some high powered stuff. I don’t think you have any idea what progressives think. Who says they all think the same thing?
What I fail to understand is why you both so smugly bask in your own sense of being right.
How on earth do either of you think that you know what others believe or think.
Pride goeth before a fall.
I believe it because those that profess those ideas have said it and history provides examples. If one doesn’t follow those philosophies, then, no matter what THAT person may call themselves, they are not progressives, socialists, communists, etc. Liberal and Progressive are not identical, but they are similar.
I’m not smug about it. I just know enough history to be able to point to examples and say, “look! don’t do that again. People will end up dead.” Any time a society believes that it can modify human nature to create a paradise, force will be necessary. Freedom and liberty does not need force to succeed.