Scientists and law in the United States are going in opposite directions. And both can’t be right at the same time while moving against each other. Having differences on certain issues might be okay. But law threatening what they can teach in classrooms is something more serious and beyond such differences. While the new academic year is beginning in the United States schools, science education is at risk from laws that have been passing earlier this summer in Florida. Florida Citizens for Science is one of the most prominent science-advocacy group in Florida. A lot of bills have become law now. That has become a losing ground for this group because most of these laws are against the liberty of teaching modern-day science in the classrooms.
Photo credit: The Library of Congress via VisualHunt / No known copyright restrictions
The blame for this is falling on scientific community that was not so active. Their active involvement, in fact, might have had an impact. On one hand, law advocates claim that evolution is just a theory. similarly, what they claim is that anthropogenic global warming is doubtful. While this was happening, there were no statements from scientists at local universities to outweigh these claims. As a matter of fact, it is now impacting science education severely. Of course, evolution is a fact. In addition, global warming is something important to teach in classrooms. While the social media is creating a noise regarding this but the scientific community is silent as if it is not a serious matter. In fact, it will have long term serious impact.
Science Education is facing cuts and twists
There are other US states like Alabama and Indiana where legislatures are encouraging academic freedom. It is a good sign for science teachers who get a liberty to cover topics like biological evolution and the chemical origins of life. Still, lawmakers deem topics like these controversial and are passing bills to remove such topics from science education. And most of these bills are becoming law at a faster pace. At the same pace, controversies are raising the head. Like, in Iowa state lawmakers are proposing a law. This law will require teachers to balance instruction on topics like evolution and global warming with opposite views and ideas.
There are many persons who are critically raising voice against these bills against science education. Like, Brandon Haught who is a high-school science teacher in Volusia County, Florida along with Jiri Hulcr and Andrea Lucky, scientists at the University of Florida in Gainesville, are speaking out against these bad educational bills. They argue that whether we aim to train students for careers in the twenty-first century or plunge them into the Middle Ages.
