In reply to the last comment, there’s nothing wrong with increasing critical thinking, but I agree with the initial post in that this is an overt way to teach creationism as a scientific theory.

The article starts with a ruling that encourages critical thinking in a new generation of students. That’s hardly a failing. Good science dictates that science itself is subject to change- something that the court ruling enforces. That’s not a mistake on the part of the judges. If you want to look at it from a political point of view on the other hand, it’s a loss to the people that place blind faith (similar to blind religious faith) in science due to the basic requirement of critical review. Basically, you are arguing that students forcing modern science to back up its assertions is a bad thing which is false. If you need a solid example of good science over pipe dreams, I offer you the trip to the moon in American history as a prime example. The people that put men on the moon are not the same people that offer you x-ray vision goggles. Without critical thinking, I have no trouble picturing some people falling for the goggles of the era.

Secondly, you are confusing global economic pressures with education in the reform section. Global economic pressure extends to the very beginnings of the empires in the Middle East and continues to the modern times of today. It includes people of all education levels making tons of money off of cheap labor from the people in China using child labor to cut costs to the fruit pickers using Mexican nationals in the US. The secret to that market is not education – it’s the value of the money on the market. It’s all about who can produce goods in the current market and bring it to market with a profit. That’s what drives Romans to build forts in the middle of a desert to secure gems, and that’s what prompts Dell to hire cheap labor from India.

America has it’s fair share of problems in short, but I’ll take that any day of the week over the UK version of education problems which include people in the UK believing that LOTR is real history. So.. Yeah, America is not doing that bad.