Video: SB 55 Discussion on Academic Freedom at Crackerbarrel Meeting

During the legislative crackerbarrel meeting in Rapid City today, Brian Johnson, who recently testified in favor of the bill in Pierre, pointed out that there is a lot of misinformation from the media and others about SB 55 . The bill says

No teacher may be prohibited from helping students understand, analyze, critique, or review in an objective scientific manner the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information presented in courses being taught which are aligned with the content standards established pursuant to § 13-3-48.

It was noted that there are no competing ideas such as creation or intelligent design in the content standards. The bill would allow teachers to teach strengths and weaknesses about those theories within the content standards. Theories such as evolution and the Big Bang are based on assumptions, and these assumptions are continually challenged by new scientific findings. Teachers aren’t forced to teach the weaknesses if they don’t want to; they are only allowed to if they want to. The legislators seemed to agree with the assertions of the audience member. Russell said that on the Senate floor, the Left tried to give the impression that this would allow content that isn’t in the content standard, but that is clearly not the case according to the language of the bill.

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Bob Ellis has been the owner of media company Dakota Voice, LLC since 2005. He is a 10-year U.S. Air Force veteran, a political reporter and commentator for the past decade, and has been involved in numerous election and public policy campaigns for over 20 years. He was a founding member and board member of the Tea Party groups Citizens for Liberty and the South Dakota Tea Party Alliance. He lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with his wife and two children.

Bob Ellis

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