Christian school in Louisiana: Loch Ness Monster exists, so evolution is false

[garebear]

A taxpayer-funded Christian school has become embroiled in a controversy for using a textbook that claims the Loch Ness Monster is real, to prove that evolution does not exist.
 
­From the next school year Eternity Christian Academy, a private school, will be eligible to accept students with state-sponsored vouchers, meaning the government will pay the school for their tuition.

And this is the education it will be funding.

“Have you heard of the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland? ‘Nessie’ for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur,” says a ninth-grade Biology textbook.

The existence of dinosaurs living alongside humans supposedly discredits the theory of evolution, showing there was no gradual replacement of species. Instead, it apparently confirms creationist beliefs that all animals were created several thousand years ago, but died out because they were not taken on Noah’s Ark, apart from “sea monsters” who were able to survive in the water. A different part of the same textbook says that Japanese fishermen once caught a dinosaur.

The entire curriculum of the academy is designed by Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) which explicitly boasts that it helps its students "to see life from God's point of view."

“True science will never contradict the Bible because God created both the universe and scripture. If a scientific theory contradicts the Bible, then the theory is wrong and must be discarded,” claims ACE.

The junior science books open with a summary of various things God created during the first six days of creation.

Evolution is not taught at all.

"We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children,” said Marie Carrier, the former pastor, now principle, of the academy. Most of the tests on the curriculum are multiple-choice and debate among “immature minds” is discouraged, in favor of rote learning.

The school has been allocated 135 state-funded places for the coming year, which means that it could receive over $1 million – money that was previously allocated to public education – providing enough students sign up.

The allocation is part of a drive to improve education by stimulating effective private institutions over badly-run state schools.

Louisiana is the third-worst performing state in the US for science and maths.


http://rt.com/usa/news/loch-ness-monster-louisiana-creationism-evolution-790/

[Straw Man]

A taxpayer-funded Christian school has become embroiled in a controversy for using a textbook that claims the Loch Ness Monster is real, to prove that evolution does not exist.
 
­From the next school year Eternity Christian Academy, a private school, will be eligible to accept students with state-sponsored vouchers, meaning the government will pay the school for their tuition.

And this is the education it will be funding.

“Have you heard of the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland? ‘Nessie’ for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur,” says a ninth-grade Biology textbook.

The existence of dinosaurs living alongside humans supposedly discredits the theory of evolution, showing there was no gradual replacement of species. Instead, it apparently confirms creationist beliefs that all animals were created several thousand years ago, but died out because they were not taken on Noah’s Ark, apart from “sea monsters” who were able to survive in the water. A different part of the same textbook says that Japanese fishermen once caught a dinosaur.

The entire curriculum of the academy is designed by Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) which explicitly boasts that it helps its students "to see life from God's point of view."

“True science will never contradict the Bible because God created both the universe and scripture. If a scientific theory contradicts the Bible, then the theory is wrong and must be discarded,” claims ACE.

The junior science books open with a summary of various things God created during the first six days of creation.

Evolution is not taught at all.

"We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children,” said Marie Carrier, the former pastor, now principle, of the academy. Most of the tests on the curriculum are multiple-choice and debate among “immature minds” is discouraged, in favor of rote learning.

The school has been allocated 135 state-funded places for the coming year, which means that it could receive over $1 million – money that was previously allocated to public education – providing enough students sign up.

The allocation is part of a drive to improve education by stimulating effective private institutions over badly-run state schools.

Louisiana is the third-worst performing state in the US for science and maths.


http://rt.com/usa/news/loch-ness-monster-louisiana-creationism-evolution-790/

Jesus Christ if fundies want their children to be morons that their business but how can they be allowed to get public funds

It's interesting that they consider 9th graders to be "immature minds" who should not debate anything and instead be taught rote memorization.      Since there aren't many jobs left for gas station attendents where are these dopes going to work when they get out of school.  It's likely that they will actually be less intelligent when they graduate than they were when they started

[MCWAY]

Jesus Christ if fundies want their children to be morons that their business but how can they be allowed to get public funds

The answer is "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" (2002). The criteria is simple:

• The program must have a valid secular purpose
• Aid must go to parents and not to the schools,
• A broad class of beneficiaries must be covered,
• The program must be neutral with respect to religion, and
• There must be adequate nonreligious options.

It's interesting that they consider 9th graders to be "immature minds" who should not debate anything and instead be taught rote memorization.      Since there aren't many jobs left for gas station attendents where are these dopes going to work when they get out of school.  It's likely that they will actually be less intelligent when they graduate than they were when they started

The public schools teach evolution. What's their excuse for producing all their "dopes"?[/list]

[garebear]

The answer is "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" (2002). The criteria is simple:


• The program must have a valid secular purpose
• Aid must go to parents and not to the schools,
• A broad class of beneficiaries must be covered,
• The program must be neutral with respect to religion, and
• There must be adequate nonreligious options.




The public schools teach evolution. What's their excuse for producing all their "dopes"?

.

[tu_holmes]

The answer is "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" (2002). The criteria is simple:


• The program must have a valid secular purpose
• Aid must go to parents and not to the schools,
• A broad class of beneficiaries must be covered,
• The program must be neutral with respect to religion, and
• There must be adequate nonreligious options.




The public schools teach evolution. What's their excuse for producing all their "dopes"?

So now you want to measure the percentage of successful people who graduate from Public vs. Private schools?

How do you measure success? A paycheck?

[Straw Man]

The answer is "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" (2002). The criteria is simple:


• The program must have a valid secular purpose
• Aid must go to parents and not to the schools,
• A broad class of beneficiaries must be covered,
• The program must be neutral with respect to religion, and
• There must be adequate nonreligious options.

sounds like from that criteria that this school shouldn't be allowed to accept vouchers

The public schools teach evolution. What's their excuse for producing all their "dopes"?[/list]

I don't think teaching of evolution is responsible for the % of kids that come out of the school system as dopes

do you?

[tu_holmes]

sounds like from that criteria that this school shouldn't be allowed to accept vouchers


I don't think teaching of evolution is responsible for the % of kids that come out of the school system as dopes

do you?

I've always blamed the parents.

[MCWAY]

sounds like from that criteria that this school shouldn't be allowed to accept vouchers

How do you figure that? If the parents picked that school of their own free will and got the same amount of money they would have, had they chosen a public school, there's no violation of the federal Constitution.

Now, state constitutions can be much stricter (as some are) and say no public funds, directly or indirectly, can go to religious schools. But, for a voucher program to include religious schools, the aforementioned criteria must be met.

I don't think teaching of evolution is responsible for the % of kids that come out of the school system as dopes

do you?

That's the point. Teaching of evolution isn't responsible for that. NEITHER is teaching Creation.

[MCWAY]

So now you want to measure the percentage of successful people who graduate from Public vs. Private schools?

How do you measure success? A paycheck?

Straw claimed (or implied) that, because these kids were being taught Creation, they were destined to be a bunch of "dopes" and "morons".

The bulk of our country's kids go to public school. Yet, they stink across the board, in the math and science departments, despite evolution being taught to them.

Keep in mind that the failure of public schools is why we have voucher programs, in the first place.

Perhaps, you've heard me tell of my account of 10th grade, where I spend one semester in private school (where I took Creation-based biology) and the other in public school (where I took evolution-based biology).

[garebear]

I think it's fair to teach religion in school because the Quran and Bible have large sections on dinosaurs anyway.

I mean, they wouldn't write an entire holy book and skip millions of years of existence, right?

And I'm sure there's a lot about microbiology in there, so that will help our future doctors.

[OzmO]

Lol. That's funny that a school will use that kind of logic to prove things.  What's even funnier is people falling for it.

[Straw Man]

How do you figure that? If the parents picked that school of their own free will and got the same amount of money they would have, had they chosen a public school, there's no violation of the federal Constitution.

Now, state constitutions can be much stricter (as some are) and say no public funds, directly or indirectly, can go to religious schools. But, for a voucher program to include religious schools, the aforementioned criteria must be met.

how do you have adequate non-religious options with this:

The entire curriculum of the academy is designed by Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) which explicitly boasts that it helps its students "to see life from God's point of view."

That's the point. Teaching of evolution isn't responsible for that. NEITHER is teaching Creation.

I didn't tell you why I suggested the students would come out less intelligent than when they went in so why do you assume I meant it was only because they were teaching creationism.  I did bold print sections in the story where they talk about 9th graders have immature minds and they shouldn't debate anything but just do rote memorization.    I also highlighted the part where it said if scientific theory contradicts the bible then the science is deemed "wrong and be discarded"      All that sounds like a great recipei for producing a bunch of dopes.  If they believe what's in their bible they will have to insist that the  sun revolves  around the earth

[MCWAY]

how do you have adequate non-religious options with this:

The entire curriculum of the academy is designed by Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) which explicitly boasts that it helps its students "to see life from God's point of view."

It appears you're confusing the issue. The ruling in "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" doesn't say the schools themselves have to provide such items. The option is with the parents, regarding where they choose to send their child for his/her education.

If a state offers parents of a child in a failing school a $5,000 voucher to use at another school, the parents can use that voucher at another public school, a magnet school, a charter school, a secular private school, or a religious private school.  Now, if the government were giving more cash for the parents to pick a Christian school, that would be a constitutional problem.

As long as the choice of a private school is that of the parents, not the government, the Supreme Court ruled that there is no problem. This case was based on the Cleveland, Ohio voucher program, developed to help black children leave failing public schools.

96% of the parents who got the vouchers sent their kids to private schools*

*: Since 80% of private schools are religious ones, subsequent use of the term, private schools, will be with the assumption that such are religious, unless stated otherwise.

I didn't tell you why I suggested the students would come out less intelligent than when they went in so why do you assume I meant it was only because they were teaching creationism.  I did bold print sections in the story where they talk about 9th graders have immature minds and they shouldn't debate anything but just do rote memorization.    I also highlighted the part where it said if scientific theory contradicts the bible then the science is deemed "wrong and be discarded"      All that sounds like a great recipei for producing a bunch of dopes.  If they believe what's in their bible they will have to insist that the  sun revolves  around the earth

What chapter and verse say the sun revolves around the earth, again?

As for not having debate and relying on rote memorization, let a kid try to discuss things that support Creation in a public school, and see how far that goes, particularly in a biology class.

[Straw Man]

It appears you're confusing the issue. The ruling in "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" doesn't say the schools themselves have to provide such items. The option is with the parents, regarding where they choose to send their child for his/her education.

If a state offers parents of a child in a failing school a $5,000 voucher to use at another school, the parents can use that voucher at another public school, a magnet school, a charter school, a secular private school, or a religious private school.  Now, if the government were giving more cash for the parents to pick a Christian school, that would be a constitutional problem.

As long as the choice of a p


rivate school is that of the parents, not the government, the Supreme Court ruled that there is no problem. This case was based on the Cleveland, Ohio voucher program, developed to help black children leave failing public schools.

96% of the parents who got the vouchers sent their kids to private schools*

*: Since 80% of private schools are religious ones, subsequent use of the term, private schools, will be with the assumption that such are religious, unless stated otherwise.

What chapter and verse say the sun revolves around the earth, again?

As for not having debate and relying on rote memorization, let a kid try to discuss things that support Creation in a public school, and see how far that goes, particularly in a biology class.

I just read your list and thought it applied to the school in questions

not sure where in the bible it says the sun revolves around the earth although I know  (as you do) that this was a belief of the Catholic Church along with believing the earth was the center of the universe.     Let me ask you, are there any scientific errors in the bible

Regarding the quality of education I completely stand by what I bolded in my first post. 
Rote memorization, no chance for debate or dialogue does not make for a quality education

Also, the flimsy logic that "Nessie" must exist because of sonar blimps, witness sightings and photograpsh (the most famous one is a proven hoax) and then jumping to a conclusion of what it is and then using that to thing you've proved Creationism is a horrible lesson in logic and if that's the way they will be teaching these kids then then will come out as dopes

Regarding the discussion of Creationism in public school.  I assume you would only want to limit that to the creation story in the bible even though all religions have their own creation stories.   I'm sure if a school has a religioun class or a class in mythology that would be an appropriate place to discuss those ideas

[avxo]

I don't like the whole concept of school vouchers or publicly-funded education, but that's a topic for another thread.

Frankly, I find it ridiculous that such a program could be accredited and a travesty that the diploma issued by this "school" is considered equivalent to a diploma by a school that teaches actual science. I really feel sorry for the children that are spoon-fed this nonsense.

And while I'm on the soapbox, I'll add something else, tangentially related. American kids are getting fucked by the education they receive in math & science at the K-12 level. It's laughable and most seem to come into University without even the most basic foundation in mathematics and barely able to do arithmetic. It's pathetic. That a University would have to teach arithmetic (or, even, basic algebra) is a disgrace.