(OUCH): "I think in America we should have freedom to teach our children whatever it is we believe"

[kpete]

Rubio on the age of the earth:

There is no scientific debate on the age of the earth. I mean,
it’s established pretty definitively, it’s at least 4.5 billion years
old.

I just think in America we should have the freedom to teach our children whatever it is we believe.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/12/05/1284791/marco-rubio-the-earth-is-at-least-45-billion-years-old/

"Prior to 2008 the word ‘evolution’ wasn’t even included in Florida’s science education standards. In 2007, when a much needed revision of the State’s education standards began to lift the veil from the eyes of Florida’s students, Rubio was there as Speaker of the House pleading for inclusion of intelligent design as part of the science curriculum. Rubio fought against the teaching of evolution claiming that it infringed on Academic Freedom. Rubio argued for Academic Freedom in the same sense that it is propped by the Discovery Institute; the version of teaching that allows creationism to be placed on equal ground with biology, astrology on common footing with astronomy, and the version that grants alchemy the scientific relevancy of chemistry.

"When interviewed about the teaching of evolution, Cuban-American Rubio compared the teaching of evolution to the tactics used by Fidel Castro’s communist party to undermine families and the church - a means of controlling the masses."
http://ecographica.blogspot.com/2010/03/marco-rubio-creationist-in-closet.html

[LisaLynne]

1. Well, we do have that freedom.

What someone like him really means is that he doesn't want the schools teaching anything but what HE believes.

[TwilightGardener]

2. We already do have that freedom.

Look at all the homeschoolers.

[annabanana]

6. Yup! In America, we are free to be as dumb

as we like. And we can do a great deal to see to it that our kids are as dumb as us.

[TwilightGardener]

9. +1000

[hifiguy]

13. And look where it's taking us.

I swear, Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World should be required reading for all high-schoolers. "Science is far from a perfect tool of knowledge, but it is the best one we have."

[Prometheus_unbound]

3. .

I think children have a right to have a clue about reality. If parents object, that's their problem.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. OK--So would we tolerate the teaching of racism in the public schools?

Like, explaining to little black kids why their genes make them unfit for anything but menial tasks?

Would we tolerate teaching kids that they can safely eat poison if they pray to Jesus as an antidote?

Why the hell should we tolerate the teaching of global climate change denial? Surely that is just as fatal as teaching the kids that Jesus will save them from the consequences of eating rat poison. More fatal, actually, since anthropogenic climate change bids fair to doom us all.

[Brickbat]

5. You can teach your kid just about anything you want, at home.

The idea is that when they're at school, they learn facts and how to separate facts from fiction.

[Hoyt]

7. There are lots of things that are legal, but not wise.

[Solly Mack]

8. Snicker. Why doesn't he just say he wants his kids to be as dumb as he is

and leave it at that?



Ignorance is a way of controlling the masses. Appealing to prejudice is also a way of controlling the masses. Denying facts is attempting to control the masses by influencing what information is allowed. He wants to teach his children what he believes - but if his belief denies fact then he is hoping to control his children through ignorance. And not just his children when he attempts to impose his beliefs on others through public policy.

[bhikkhu]

10. He still has the wrong idea

"what we believe", whoever "we" are supposed to be, is beside the point. Knowledge is most useful when it is built up from fact and evidence, independent of belief and ideology.

"Belief" implies the suspension of critical thinking, which is the last thing we should be passing on to our kids!

[frylock]

11. just like we have the freedom to call you and your kids dumbshits..

ain't freedom great?

[HereSince1628]

12. American parents DO have the freedom to teach their children whatever the parents believe

That's undeniably true.

Of course, this creates a generational conflict well known to go back to the time of Socrates. And no parent can be guaranteed that their children in the exercise of their own free will, are going to endorse everything they are taught by their parents.

Nonetheless, parents ARE free to do this and MOST PARENTS SUCCEED AT LEAST IN PART IN THIS ENDEAVOR!

on edit: I thought I should add some examples from 'my' parents teaching that I cannot escape...

From my father: Measure twice, cut once.

From my mother: Never complain about a measurement, shit happens when men build things.