Sadly...

No!



44% say that education should represent widespread beliefs. OK, OK, it's a non-scientific MSNBC online poll, but just the idea of people clicking on that is insane, even if they are all Freepers.

The way the question is asked makes it sound like this is a democratic fairness issue above all else. The truth is, this is probably the most undemocratic way of imposing ideology into science class. Though the vast majority of science teachers and scientists know that teaching at least some aspects of Darwin's theory is vitally important for the understanding of a broad array of biological principles, it is a handfull of administrators who made up their minds to change the curriculum from the top down. Compared to "teaching" homosexuality or promiscuity--arguments used by the far right when criticising sex-ed curricula--the far-right agenda when it comes to teaching "intelligent" desing far outpaces what perceived damage could result from any other meddling in the curricula. For one, parents by-and-large are incapable of correcting the mistaken teachings at home, since though parents could potentially tell their kids not to have sex because they believe in this that or the other, it'll be much more difficult for non-biologically trained adults to teach why intelligent design is fundamentally flawed and why it would lead to false beliefs in the world around us. For another, teachers would presumbly not be allowed to teach the fundamental flaws in intelligent design: the way it looks right now, it would have to be taught on equal par with evolution, thereby calling into question most everything else taught in biology class after that like genetics, ecology, and any number of things potential pre-med candidates might need to have under their belt before entering college. This experiment is just too dangerous to allow: if individual school districts feel they really need to do this, then take it out of science class.

Update: Mike has a periodic table you just have to see!