I am currently in a program to get my doctorate in Educational Technology.
We discus how recent technological changes have changed the way we think
and operate, and how education is changing as a result. Kansas reminds me
much of the change is only superficial. There are still very strong pockets
of resistance to modern thinking.
The really sad thing is that to truly understand modern biology it must be
approached through evolutionary systematics. Evolution is more than a
description of how creatures evolved, it is an understanding of how disease
operates, how species are organized, how communities are formed.
If you have not read Jonathan Weiner's The Beak of the Finch it is an
excellent look at the subject of evolution and birds. In the book Weiner
estimates that about 50% of the American population does not believe in
evolution. Kansas is confirming this.
There is a great essay by John Dewey that he wrote in 1909 called The
Influence of Darwin on Philosophy. (http://www.2think.org/iodop.shtml) It
is amazing how well Dewey understood what Darwin wrote about and how well
he understood the impact of his ideas on the world. Ninety years later we
are still trying to deal with that impact. If Dewey were to come back now
he would be disgusted at the condition of schools but he would probably be
even more exasperated that after so many years we have made so little
progress in the understanding of a basic tenet of biology.

Jim

Jim Rosso
Issaquah, Washington
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