Rationality (in the guise of high school biology) is on the march. With wins in Pennsylvania and, more recently, in the Florida science standards real science appears to be making headway. After an expensive (for the state) lawsuit and a loss in drafting new science standards for Florida the Discovery Institute seems to be changing its tactics a bit.

The new way to attack the evil, evil theory (it’s only a theory!) of evolution seems to be through the legislature. If the cdesign proponentsists can convince enough state senators and representatives (or, even, US senators and representatives) that evolution is ruining the world then the legislatures will pass so called “Academic Freedom” bills or “Academic Bills of Rights.” These bills have, at base, the exclusion of political and religious beliefs from academic decisions making (i.e. tenure, hiring, etc.) and from the classroom. They also make a point of saying that academics should be able to express their own theories when there is a divide between researchers on a particular question.

“Wait!” you say, “isn’t that exactly what you’re asking for? For students and teachers and professors and scientists to be able to say whatever they believe without fear of reprisal?” No! We already have that. Despite claims to the contrary, academics are not fired, denied tenure or denied a job for political or religious beliefs. If they were, they would already have a tenable claim under existing laws. The real goal of these “Academic Bills of Rights” is to let people other than the teachers, the academics, the people who spend their entire lives researching this stuff, decide what is and isn’t acceptable in class.

Specifically, let’s look at a simple example of what this could lead to in a biology class. Suppose a student is presented with the following question: “Explain the relative progression of species leading up to humans.” (Yeah, I know it’s a lame question, but that’s not the point). A nice, religious, ID follower could, conceivably answer “there was no progression, God created all species at the same time.” Now, clearly, this is a religious belief, so how does the teacher grade this answer? If an “Academic Bill of Rights” is in effect, and “F” (which is deserved) seems a bit risky - it would be grading based on religion. Do you risk your job over one student? I don’t think so.

The mistake here is that the scientists would no longer get to define what is right and wrong in their fields. There’s a reason biology classes don’t teach ID/creationism: ID is wrong. There’s a reason creationists don’t get hired for biological evolution research positions: creationism is wrong. We’re already, as a country, subverting our science education system by challenging its basic principles and marginalizing its importance. Do we need, also, to damage our science research by making sure that people whose beliefs conflict with (and lead them to deny) the ideas they are researching get hired?

Science already has academic freedom. The system of peer review works. If a scientists has a new (even controversial) idea it will, eventually, be accepted if it is valid. All they have to do is show the proof. When are the Intelligent Design “scientists” going to show their proof?