Maybe I'm being naïve about evolution. A few days ago, I sort of backhandedly suggested that if schools taught "intelligent design" and evolution side by side, any idiot would quickly see that the logical leap from the first to the second is not very strenuous. The thinking is that, by conceding on speciation, ID pretty much gives the whole game away. So, it seems, reality-based folks would be better off letting the two be taught side by side, expose ID as a hoax and a fraud, and be done with it—rather than keep ID enshrouded in mystery and hence keep the controversy going. The current strategy seems too much like banning The Catcher in the Rye—a dull, worthless book that stayed alive thanks only to censorship.

Anyways, in a very related vein, today I see that teachers in Pennsylvania are trying to storm the beaches and attack evolution:

The school board in Dover, Pa., south of Harrisburg, had an administrator read a one-minute statement to ninth graders in biology class yesterday saying evolution is not fact and offering a different approach called "intelligent design."

But doesn't it seem like evolution will only benefit from this sort of mystery around it? Here's something that all real scientists believe—something you have to believe if you want to do any sort of meaningful work in biology—and yet Ms. Thelma of the frickin' 9th grade is trying to wave her hands frantically and convince everyone that no, no, there's nothing to see here. Let's look at this other, magical theory. Nice theory! Lovely theory! Hehe...

Like I said, maybe I'm being naïve, but this seems like a surefire way to convince students that "intelligent design" is lame and stupid.