(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . And a child shall lead them: Youth make powerful point at the Montana Legislature – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'February', 'Mary Moe'] Date: 2023-02-19 One day, Isaiah tells us, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.” No wild animals mended their ways in a recent hearing on Senate Bill 235, a bill requiring that K-12 science instruction include only scientific facts. But my, oh my, a child rose to lead – several children, actually. It wasn’t difficult to make more sense than the bill’s sponsor, who made no sense at all. He began and ended by asserting that nothing in the bill prohibits the teaching of scientific theory. Yet SB 235 explicitly prohibits teachers from teaching, textbooks from including, and state and local boards from requiring “subject matter that is not scientific fact.” What constitutes “scientific fact?” The bill says it’s the “indisputable and repeatable observation of a natural phenomenon,” but the sponsor see-sawed between defending that definition, advising that definitions be left to teachers, and pointing out that even the meaning of indisputable is “in dispute.” Dizzying. SB 235 had only one supporter, a purported professor of law teaching abroad. If you searched the world over for a proponent whose testimony would torpedo this bill, you’d choose this guy. After a tortured explanation of how teaching scientific theory was legally fraud, he turned to evolutionary theory and educated us on “the percipient witness.” “Nobody was there at the creation, right?” he asked rhetorically. “So there was no percipient witness.” Yet, he complained, these scientists come up with these “theories” that “impeach” the Bible – “the most sold and believed book in the whole world.” Fortunately, the committee then became percipient witnesses to a throng of Montanans pointing out that scientific facts arise from scientific theory and the study of science requires theoretical exploration, experimentation, critique and debate. A farmer, two conservationists, a Blackfeet spokesperson, a mother, a father, a grandfather, various education lobbyists and several current and former science teachers explained logical and factual flaws with the bill and the economic, academic, cultural, and constitutional concerns it raised. But schoolkids slammed the dunk. If you have any doubt about the quality of education in Montana’s public schools, go listen to the students’ testimony on SB 235. One and all showed not only an impressive understanding of science, but also the ability to dissect, analyze and rebut a premise; organize their thoughts clearly; and express themselves compellingly. Some examples: “It is my dream to be involved in the sciences,” a 7th-grader testified. “Not teaching these theories would stifle innovation as we move backwards in science education while the rest of the country moves forward. The people who would suffer the most would be Montana’s youth, such as myself.” A sophomore acknowledged she’d graduate before SB 235 took effect, but her cousin was just a 6th-grader. She said: “She will not be able to have open discussions about scientific theory … to question why things are the way they are … to be curious … How can she be, if school is limited to completely observable facts? School is a place for learning and debate. We cannot encourage students to do this if the curriculum itself doesn’t encourage it.” “Science is a methodology, not an ideology,” a Capital High senior explained. “Science is not an accumulation of indisputable facts; rather, it is a set of best explanations.” “No science is indisputable,” Capital’s student body vice-president pointed out. “In order to have science that develops upon itself and knowledge that grows, we need to have disputable ideas that students can explore …. This bill would enshrine a core misunderstanding of science into law.” The president of Montana Federation of Public Employees, a former science teacher herself, was all but speechless when her turn to testify came. Beaming, she could only say how proud she was of these students. They had elevated a legislative hearing into “the perfect crossroads of science, civics and debate education students are receiving in Montana’s excellent public schools.” Amen, sister. The lion may not yet lie with the lamb. But thanks to these students, SB 235 will soon sleep with the fishes. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/02/19/and-a-child-shall-lead-them-youth-make-powerful-point-at-the-montana-legislature/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/