“The way we’re going to have smart, intelligent kids is exposing them to the very best science and let them not only decide, but also let them contribute to that body of knowledge.

That’s what makes the scientific process so exciting. You get to go there and find facts and data and test what’s come before you and challenge those theories.”

I’m sorry to make the somewhat cliche analogy, but by this line of thought, Jyndall should petition to let history teachers teach that the Holocaust did not occur. If the Discovery Institute is making such an impact that the good governor thinks that anyone who has a “side” has legitimacy, then imagine what the Institute for Historical Review could teach him. They could present scores of historians to present the case that the Holocaust did not happen. Theyy could show him that a ‘case’ could be made either way. Maybe we should let the kids decided.

The mistake made by the Louisiana governor, and hopefully seen clearly in my example, is that he is assuming that a science class should not MERELY teach the consensus of the state of actual science and the scientific communities. Rather, he is somehow thinking that this is not good enough - that teaching only one side is dogmatic. We should also teach other sides, even if they are not in any way reflective of the state of science.

This is what makes the Holocaust example silly: maybe a “case” could be made that the Holocaust didn’t happen, but not one that historians take seriously. And as history class reflects the present state of historical knowledge as given by historians, we teach the consensus view - that the Holocaust happened.

So, just like the IHR is not taken seriously by historians, the DI is not taken seriously by science (and it is not even CLOSE to being taken seriously). So, as governor, I would think that the best policy for building curriculum in areas like science and history is to give students an education that reflects the current state of knowledge in those fields.

But maybe that is because I am smart enough not to be a public official.

Two sides are only better than one side if the two sides are real competitors. To date, ID is not a serious competitor for evolution. The day it is is the day that we will begin teaching it as such.