To the editor:

The Kansas Board of Education has once again disgraced the state of Kansas by injecting ignorant viewpoints into school curriculum. The new standards toward science are not only insulting to Kansans, but also to Americans. Healthy scientific debate is what is needed in the classroom; healthy spiritual beliefs should be taught at home. Alternative scientific theories should be the only alternative taught in the science classrooms. This is not to say that these theories are the only valid alternatives, but just as physical fitness isn’t taught in a cooking class, spiritual beliefs should not be taught in school.

I can only imagine how many students out of the 176,453 that attend college or graduate school in Kansas will not stay in Kansas, because they were educated under different guidelines and want their children to be educated with the best science possible. With the Kansas Legislature already worried about the state’s looming “brain drain” crisis, this decision will surely catalyze the onset of a vegetative populous in Kansas. What is more, business owners with a negative perception of the education of Kansans could diminish Kansas economics as the perception of an uneducated populace grows and businesses turn to other, more scientifically educated states. I hope this is not the case, and that more Kansans speak out against this ruling, so that it does not become the case.

May those of you that voted for the new lowered standards suffer the same fate as those right-wing conservatives that voted for a similar measure in Dover – and not be re-elected.

Jason Divis,

Lawrence