Get politics out of science class

Americans love expressing their opinions. After all, America was founded on free speech. You’ll find those loud opinions at any sporting event. Sit in the stands at any field or gym and you’ll hear the loud opinions of bleacher experts sitting 15 rows up, sometimes three beers in.

Trying to get a family to reach a consensus on where to eat is almost as complicated as diplomatic détente. Strategic planning meetings are the “American torture chamber,” with everyone sharing an opinion about using “or instead of and.” We’ve all read the “expert opinions” on Facebook

On Sunday morning, I talk back to the TV. I’m shouting my opinion like my voice will somehow magically reach through the screen and make the politician being interviewed accept my opinion. It makes no sense, but it feels so right.

But sometimes opinions just have no weight. For example, if you’re standing in the rain and in your opinion, it’s not raining, you’ll still get soaked.

It’s not opinion; it’s denial. Hard facts trump loud opinions.

Here’s an example of denial that impacts our future, and Iowa will “get soaked” if these opinions override real facts.

The Iowa Department of Education, (DOE) is trying to remove references to climate change and biological evolution from the science standards taught in middle and high schools. The new DOE standards replace “climate change” with “climate trends.” Under the new standards “biological evolution” becomes, “biological change over time.”

The Iowa DOE is trying to use language to trick students into believing a political opinion. Those on the Right don’t want to admit humans have any role in climate change. Fundamental Christians favor a literal Biblical creation story.

Refusing to acknowledge humans have anything to do with climate change, is like pretending there’s no correlation between smoking and lung cancer. The Biblical creation story isn’t science. It's a belief.

The DOE claims the changes were approved by a 37-member team of science educators. That’s not true. That team retained the original wording from the 2015 science standards and made no changes concerning evolution and climate change. Changes were made by the DOE.

“The document that was presented for public input was not what we voted on and came to consensus,” Angie Breitbach, a team member from Dubuque Community School District told the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

The public comment period for the science standards is still ongoing until February 3. You don’t have to be a scientist to understand climate change is real and it’s impacting the world. The horrific flooding, extreme storms, and fires are not just weather as usual. We need to listen to experts, not politicians.

Yes, you’ll find outliers in the scientific community who disregard climate change and evolution. Their opinions are for hire.

The last few legislative sessions the Iowa GOP crusaded on rooting out politics from classrooms. Now, the DOE is trying to interject its political opinion into the science classroom.

I respect differing opinions. My hobby is writing editorials, so I’m certainly not shy about sharing mine. But we shouldn’t be deceived by opinion masquerading as fact, especially in the science classroom.

Bruce Lear of Sioux City taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until he retired. BruceLear2419@gmail.com