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Roberto Martinez Is Highly Evolved

There is an important vote before the Florida Board of Education over whether or not to update Florida's education protocol so that evolution is not just mentioned in passing, but is instead a mandatory teaching topic in Florida's public schools:

Nearly 150 years after Charles Darwin revolutionized biology, evolution will become required study in Florida classrooms if the state Board of Education approves new science standards Tuesday that explicitly names the ''E'' word for the first time.

The standards, which haven't been updated since 1996, were written by scientists and educators to modernize Florida's science education curriculum, which has been derided by mainstream science for years, in part for lacking explicit mention of evolution.

Now it's not just going to be mentioned. It's to be taught, from sixth grade on up, as ``the fundamental concept underlying all of biology [that] is supported by multiple forms of scientific evidence.''

The fact that evolution is absent from the current standards attests to the perceived weakness of science education as well as to the power of the religious right and other evolution opponents who have launched a full-scale assault on the proposed standards by tapping rank-and-file churchgoers, intelligent-design activists and a high-powered lawyer involved in the nationally watched Terri Schiavo euthanasia case.

So how does Colson Hicks litigator and board member Roberto Martinez feel about all this, given the growing "science gap" between moribund American students and overachievers in Japan, China, and Europe:

Roberto Martinez, a Miami-based board member, said he'll vote to keep the proposed standards as is because he trusts the National Academy of Science and the American Association of the Advancement of Science, which praised them.

Hey, I praised Britney Spears once, but that was a long time ago and I was blind drunk and....well, let's just say that was a long time ago.

Roberto, let's hope you have a similar excuse when you explain your vote to parents of Florida public school students.

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on February 18, 2008 (boomark / email).