The Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008

I read somewhere that when Americans hear someone with a British accent, they automatically add 10 points to that person’s IQ.  By the same token, if they hear a Southern accent, they deduct 10 points. 

The Southern accent deduction might have some rationale.  In 2008 the Louisiana legislature passed the Science Education Act, permitting public school teachers to use materials that undermine scientific findings.  Four specific areas are singled out: “evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning.”  The law still stands, nine years later.

This legislation is bringing “creationism” into the classroom in the guise of “teaching the controversy.”  The message to students is more subtle.  Don’t trust science.  Now we have the Trump administration to echo that sentiment, with its “birther” beliefs, “fake news,” and the theory of “alternative facts.”  We are getting dumber and dumber.