An update on the hearings.Florida Citizens for Science intones You made an impression. Congratulations! The hearings seem to have gone well, and the violation of the constitutional rights by christian fundamentalists of public school children of Florida may have been averted.From tampabay.com:

A committee of teachers, scientists and others worked for months to update the current standards, which were written in 1996 and do not mention the word “evolution.” Its revamp has won solid reviews from teachers and scientists. But some conservative Christians object, saying the standards should also include faith-based theories such as creationism or intelligent design, and/or air what they insist are evolution’s flaws, faults and weaknesses.”In my life time, I’ve never seen an ape turned into a human. I’ve never seen us come from slime,” said Ruth Klingman, who identified herself on the sign-in sheet as a former educator.”I don’t think evolution should be taught in school as dogmatic fact,” agreed Gary Tupper. “I wish people had priorities like putting Christ first.”

But in the end, the number of commenters in favor of having excellent science standards outweighed the number opposed, according to reports.From the Florida Citizens for Science:

Regardless of where this winds up, Florida Citizens for Science thanks you all for showing up and making your voices heard in support of quality science education. Don’t stop, though! We have to keep this up all the way through to the state board of education meeting Feb. 19. Never lose sight of the fact that at least two board members have publicly expressed their desire to see some “alternatives” taught alongside evolution. Beside them, there are too many other unknowns. For instance, this Associated Press article mentions the board chairman:

Board chairman T. Willard Fair, who heads the Urban League of Greater Miami, said he’s never received more correspondence on a single issue, but he declined to discuss his views.

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