Two bills in Oklahoma Legislature promote nonscience agenda

Ewert wrote, “Science lends credence to an agenda because it's revered as the bastion of objectivity and truth.” This is indisputable; we entrust our very lives to the science that keeps planes aloft and our medical procedures effective. Neither realm is perfect, but in the past two centuries while modern science's rigorous standards have come into practice, travel has accelerated astonishingly, communication technology has been revolutionized, human life spans have roughly tripled, etc. The overall methodology provides extraordinary benefits to society and shows no sign of faltering.

It follows that undermining those standards is unwise. Yet that is precisely what House Bill 1551 and Senate Bill 1742 aim to do. Wrapped in the deceptive language of promoting critical thinking, they aim to get the nose of a malodorous camel (pseudoscience) inside the tent of science. This camel has tried before, many times, and been rebuffed — for good reason.

Critical thinking is already the centerpiece of science education; discussions of controversial issues abound. Despite being a human enterprise with associated foibles, science polices itself more effectively than any other educational area. Remember the big 1989 stir about how “cold fusion” was going to solve all our energy needs? That was weak science and it was purged — by scientists!