James Randi's Swift - November 11, 2005

LOOKING AHEAD

"Reader David F. Mayer has come up with a likely curriculum for a few of our centers of higher learning, particularly in Kansas, if the present trend toward the educational standards expressed above, should continue:"

Freshman year: *Numerology: Secrets of calculation by cabbalist masters*Alchemy: How to turn lead into gold

Sophomore year:*Demonology: How to tell if you are possessed and what to do about it*Astrology: How to use astral charts to make important decisions

Junior year:*Creationism: How the entire Universe was created in only six days*Spiritualism: Ghosts, spirits, fairies & elves and how to communicate with them

Senior year:*Conjuring: Magic spells and how to cast them*Alternative medicine: How herbs and sea salt can cure all diseases

Statement by the chairman of the Kansas Board of Education:We are working hard to bring our children back into the 10th century.

Statement by Mark Twain over 100 years ago:God made the idiot for practice. Then he made the school board.

While we’re in Kansas, Toto, we see that the Board of Education tried to rewrite the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to “the search for natural explanations of phenomena.” As reader Nick Alcanter observes:

"Even the munchkins came to their senses after they realized their deity was just an old man hiding behind a curtain. I wonder if these folks ever will."

More at the above link. For intelligent skeptics. Well, I read it too.