Do you give a shit?

If you haven’t heard, the Great State of Tennessee, in a effort to inflict reversible (hopefully) mental retardation on the children entrusted to its educational system, has passed legislation that “encourages teachers to present the “scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses” of topics that arouse “debate and disputation” such as “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.” Joe Romm brings the appropriate anger, so I have nothing original to contribute there.

But, once again, when science is under assault, education ‘reformers’ are neither seen nor heard. Because not being able to teach essential components of science does not help students learn science (imagine that).

And this isn’t an attempt to ‘ding’ reformers on my part–that’s just a bonus. Because when you remember who their allies are in their efforts to dismantle teachers unions–conservatives–the silence makes sense. They don’t want to antagonize their allies.

Because busting unions is more important than teaching science.

Or children.