Re:Our nation cannot censor its way back to cultural health
by josephcsible on Sunday February 06, 2022 @09:11PM
(#30239337)
Ah, I see: that affects whether it's allowed to be taught in an elective class or not. Yes, to fully oppose censorship, we should allow critical race theory to be taught in optional elective social studies classes. But then we should also allow optional elective science classes to teach that evolution is wrong, because to do otherwise would be censoring the young-Earth creationists.
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Re:Our nation cannot censor its way back to cultural health
by klyrs on Sunday February 06, 2022 @09:21PM
(#30239431)
If you can find a way to teach that without violating the Establishment Clause, sure. The only way forward I can see here would look like a comparative history of religions course, which would teach various creation stories from a neutral viewpoint. And that doesn't seem to be what those campaigning for anti-evolution education have been looking for. Curious if you've got any fresh ideas, though.
Re:Our nation cannot censor its way back to cultural health
by josephcsible on Sunday February 06, 2022 @09:53PM
(#30239705)
Maybe that was a bad example. What if instead of something religious, there was a class teaching some kooky conspiracy theory as fact, like a physics elective saying that perpetual motion is possible, but that the patents to make it work well enough to overcome friction have all been bought up by Big Oil and suppressed?
Re:Our nation cannot censor its way back to cultural health
by klyrs on Sunday February 06, 2022 @10:10PM
(#30239839)
It would need the support of textbook companies to print it, school boards to buy into it, teachers to deliver it, and students interested in taking it. There's a whole marketplace of ideas out there, and the course you're proposing simply wouldn't survive it.
Re:Our nation cannot censor its way back to cultural health
by aftbit on Sunday February 06, 2022 @10:42PM
(#30240070)
Teaching intelligent design needn't violate the Establishment Clause. Nobody says schools can't mention religions and what they believe, just that they cannot require students to adopt one.
Re:Our nation cannot censor its way back to cultural health
by zozbot234 on Sunday February 06, 2022 @10:52PM
(#30240138)
Using taxpayer money to promote religion has been held to be equivalent to an "establishment" of religion. This means that any schools funded by the tax man have to be strictly secular, even in their "elective" activities.