Bush Administration and Science

First came Frist: “It isn’t just a matter of faith; it’s a matter of science. Embryonic stem cells have specific properties that make them uniquely powerful and deserving of special attention.” The surprise was not only the Senate Majority Leader’s (or “Dr. Frist” when he’s weighing-in on a medical-related issue) support of expanded embryonic stem cell research, but his no-nonsense endorsement of science.

This week, Bush is talking science. Bush had this to say about Intelligent Design yesterday: “I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought… You’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas. The answer is yes.”

Different schools of thought? Different ideas? Sounds more like a progressive Montessori teacher–not a president who often appeals to “sound science” when deriding the majority opinion of the scientific community.

People should be exposed to different ideas. But shouldn’t there also be criteria and metrics for evaluating the merit of those ideas? In the science classroom, where students are learning about the scientific process, what happens if Intelligent Design is determined to be outside the purview of science? Should it be thrown out? Would that be close-minded?

Rather than tossing around “sound science” or advocating a relativistic, wishy-washy position on the teaching of science (particularly as American students continue to fall behind in science and math), the Bush Administration would do the country a service by reflecting on basic scientific processes (testing, peer-review, reproducible research) and considering the purpose and limits of science when making off-the-cuff remarks that may have enormous cultural and policy implications.

August 2nd, 2005