Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Tony Bennett is listed as the featured speaker for the “Creation Evidence Expo 2009” which makes the claim that only God the Creator, and not Natural Selection, can be proved scientifically.

We at Creation Evidence Expo seek to bring change within the public school system across the United States by providing overwhelming evidence that the Genesis account of Creation is the only viable and truthful explanation for the origin of man. Therefore, it should be considered as superior to Darwin’s theory of evolution in explaining the existence of the universe and everything in it.

Another notable performing in this extravaganza are former Congressman Mike Sodrel.

Sodrel is a trucking magnate, private citizen since he was bounced out of office, and can do what he wants, but I think some intrepid young journalist ought to get the head of our state’s educational system on record as to whether he agrees that “the Genesis account of Creation is the only viable and truthful explanation for the origin of Man” and whether he holds the opinion that the Genesis explanation is superior to that of the natural selection explanation.

Oseye Boyd, writing for the Muncie Star Press, has an article about sex education. The article cites polling data suggesting that the public would generally like kids to receive accurate information about birth control and preventing STDs while quoting school officials who believe the public prefers abstinence only education.

Regardless of what the study indicates, Liberty-Perry Community School Board President Keith Davis says the board’s decision to teach abstinence-only education is what his constituents want.

“I can assure you if we started teaching our kids the proper way to use birth control, we would hear from our community — I’m sure,” Davis said.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the loudest part of his constituency would freak out over the notion of teaching students about condoms and the like. The available evidence suggests “abstinence-only” sex education results in more pregnancies and STDs than medically accurate sex education. The fact is, we are doing ourselves and our children a disservice by being squeamish about talking about sex. I’m sure I’ll have to overcome some discomfort with the topic when it’s time for me to talk to my own kids. But it’s my job to make sure my kids have the best possible chances in life, and knowing how sex works and how to minimize the unwanted consequences are important bits of information. Having a child as a teen certainly has a way of limiting one’s options.

I caught a segment on NPR this afternoon featuring the W.E.B. DuBois Society and its efforts to make academic achievement a point of emphasis for black kids. One of the problems, apparently, is that there is a cultural message out there telling black kids that, if they study too much, maybe that makes them too “white.” I don’t pretend to be familiar with black culture except as it bleeds into my mostly-white world, so about the most I can say is that I’ve heard this described as an issue for academic achievement among blacks from other sources.

Certainly no one ever told me that studying or academic achievement would make me not a real white. That said, there was definitely an antagonism against learning from many of my peers. In middle-school, I distinctly remember being put down for using 25-cent words. But, it’s middle-school — your peers are going to use whatever club is closest at hand for putting you down. I was fortunate in that, whatever messages I was getting from some segments of my peer group, I was getting stronger messages from my parents and teachers.

Blacks may well have additional obstacles to overcome in terms of an anti-educational cultural bias; but American culture generally seems to have a strong anti-intellectual bias. Witness the rise of “Joe” the “Plumber.” Hell, witness the rise of George W. Bush. One of his political *strengths* was that he wasn’t “too smart.” We raise a man of intellectual mediocrity to the heights of power, and then ask our kids to take us seriously when we tell them a good education should be their primary concern? They may not be that well educated, but they’re not (by and large) stupid.

The conversation in the NPR segment turned to the election of Barack Obama and how it might help fight the notion that an educated black person is too white. Obama’s strength in this regard will be that he is not only smart, but he’s cool as well.

I guess the lesson to be learned here is that you can’t be Poindexter smart – you have to be cool-smart. If only I had known. I’m conceited enough to regard myself as smart but not so deluded as to think I’m cool. I’ve gone the opposite route and now revel in my geekery. I’m not sure cool can be learned in any case.