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Yes.

Head Start (preschool for low income families across the USA): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Start_Program
Some states have free public preschool for all children: http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3293 (Kansas Dept of Ed.)

And, I could be wrong, but I believe every state in the US has kindergarten, which is preschool (school starts in 1st grade, which is why they call it that. Kindergarten is not mandatory).

1. Describe the rock cycle and explain that there are sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks that have distinct properties (e.g., color, texture) and are formed in different ways.

There are a myriad of other guidelines, of course, but in all the K-12 Science standards the word "algorithm" doesn't even appear. If not for a book called "Code" I would have had to enter my first CS course without knowledge of what an algorithm was, how decimal numbers were represented in binary and hexadecimal, and a myriad other of the most basic concepts that are useful foundations for functioning in a digital world.

I know that folks are going to point out that I'm talking about state specific guidelines, but these are mostly determined by the federal standards in order to remain in compliance with the No Child Gets Ahead Act. I've provided links for California, Massachusetts, and Kansas curriculum in an attempt to present a cross section of the country--search each for "igneous" and "algorithm" and you'll get the idea.

I'm not saying that the ACM has my complete support on this, simply that standards for evolving disciplines, most notably science, might be well served by inclusion of some more modern concepts.

That quote should be framed and hung over the Kansas School Board's door.

On a side note, I sent an email to Mrs. Janet Waugh to congratulate her resolve and to wish that one day any attempts to integrate ID into science classrooms will be voted down unanimously, not the shaky 6-4 margin.

Her contact information http://www3.ksde.org/commiss/ksbe1.html

Kansas University isn't 100% alone on this. I'm currently a student in Political Science at Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS). I brought up the school board's decision in a recitation class and found a surprising number of people, Christian and not, who were opposed the changes. The line I used to tweak the discussion was the new first line of the Kansas standards' evolution benchmark: "Biological evolution postulates an unguided natural process that has no discernable direction or goal" (74). Even in a liberal artsy classroom like that one, most people had heard of natural selection or survival of the fittest before and could understand the problem with that line being the first criteria in the evolution standards.

That said, a third of the people in there seemed to support the change.

Yes, I'm looking to attend grad school ELSEWHERE, thank you very much.

http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdaddr.html

The addressess of the whole board

Here are the names and email addresses of the Kansas Education Board members.

http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdaddr.html

Ok, tell them what you think.

Here the intelligent folks ... who brought intelligent design to Kansas.

http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdaddr.html/

I wonder if writing to them would change their minds. I wouldn't count on it, however it might be worth a try.

http://www.ksde.org/feedback.html

Let the board members know about it:

http://www.ksde.org/commiss/bdaddr.html

Page ii of the working draft of the Kansas Science Education Standards from August 9 (pdf) states specifically that "the curriculum standards call for students to learn about the best evidence for modern evolutionary theory, but also to learn about areas where scientists are raising scientific criticisms of the theory" and that "the study and discussion of the origin and development of life may raise deep personal and philosophical questions for many people on all sides of the debate." Got that?

So what about the Big Bang? Does the ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE not raise deep questions? Are there not criticisms of the Big Bang theory? Where's the Intellegent Design contingent on that one?

Seriously, as a fully-fledged agnostic I'd be much more willing to agree that, yeah, maybe there was some higher power that had something to do with, you know, a spontaneous explosion of matter and energy, than to put God into biology.

And while you're at it, you kooks, there are LOADS of scientific theories which have some amount of criticism. Quantum physics, gravity, fluid dynamics... Where's your God on those? Or are you just gearing up now?

1) I'm posting as Anonymous Coward because I live in Kansas. I am more appalled than anyone here.

2) Please send your hate mail to: pplamann@ksde.org

3) Slashdot this: http://www.ksde.org/feedback.html

Thanks!

"Ignorant of what?" Here's a few things:

1. "religious extremists" Not all religious people are extremists. Some are very normal and live everywhere. Chances are that you have an "extremist" living next door to you. (FYI, I am not religous)

2. I was born in raised in Kansas, and they have not "thrashed" science education in any way. They did NOT ban teaching the theory of evolution. Here is a quote from the often debated standard: "As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop an understanding of ... biological evolution ..." (p. 79). They in fact said that students should know about evolution, but they just decided that the students would not be tested over it. (http://www.ksde.org/outcomes/science_stds2001.pdf [ksde.org]) See page 12 or 47 (quote on page 74).

1. "religious extremists" They are not extremists. They are very normal and live everywhere. Chances are that you have an "extremist" living next door to you. (FYI, I am not religous) 2. I was born in raised in Kansas, and they have not "thrashed" science education in any way. They did NOT ban teaching the theory of evolution. Here is a quote from the often debated standard: "As a result of their activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop an understanding of ... biological evolution ..." (p. 79). They in fact said that students should know about evolution, but they just decided that the students would not be tested over it. (http://www.ksde.org/outcomes/science_stds2001.pdf ) See page 12 or 47 (quote on page 74).