[vezzy-fnord]

Although this is a heinous butchery of education, it's been practiced for a long time and I do believe that all private schools (including charters, who have higher control of their curriculum despite receiving public funding) have the right to teach whatever inanity they decide.

It's depressing that such a primal culture of anti-intellectualism and deceit like this is thriving in the Deep South, but given the deeply ingrained religious paleoconservative culture, it's unavoidable and only likely.

It does however teach one that formal schooling cannot be trusted and should not be used as an accurate descriptor of intelligence and knowledge. The parents who support this have ideological agendas. If these institutions didn't exist, they would stick to homeschooling, as many of them already do.

It's a shame, too. Homeschooling is a viable alternative to the mess of public schooling, but too many people pursue it for wrong reasons.

[MartinCron]

I see where you're coming from, but I can't get behind the financing of it. Private schools can get as crazy as they want, but a school receiving public funding that has a fundamentally religious curriculum is a straightforward violation of the establishment clause of the first amendment.

[poorelise]

"I do believe that all private schools (...) have the right to teach whatever inanity they decide"

In a way I agree, because it's kind of like free speech.

On the other hand, shouldn't a society be responsible for protecting children? Schools teach children, after all. It's different from somebody voluntarily picking a topic to learn about.

Seems to me children being taught Creationism might be seriously disadvantaged.

Then again, by what standard? For example, what if being immersed in some cult brings total happiness, even if it looks insane from the outside? Should it be disallowed to raise kids as devote cult members?

[gress]

I went to one of the top 5 private high schools in the country. Evolution was split out into a separate class, and alongside it, there was a creationism class. Parents could choose one or both classes.

I can guarantee you the kids who did the creationism only track were not 'disadvantaged' compared to 99% of kids in public school who were taught evolution.

[poorelise]

Maybe they sere not disadvantaged because general standards are low?

Actually the topic is a can of worms, we could go on about the purpose of school. I suspect teaching critical thinking is not what schools really want - they want to provide the industry with willing workers. In that context creationists perhaps aren't worse off much, but that doesn't mean much.

[gress]

Right - my point is that you can only talk about people being 'disadvantaged' by creationist teachings when other more important factors have been resolved.