Legal and Policy Issues in Education

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses education policies and legal issues surrounding education in the United States. It begins by providing a functional definition of education policy and the importance of education policies. The paper then looks at examples of how the educational policy can go too far. The paper specifically looks at how intelligent design and religion can cause legal issues in education.

Table of Contents:
Educational Policy: A Functional Definition
Legal Issues in Education: Intelligent Design and Religion

From the Paper:

"Intelligent design will continue to be a significant legal challenge for educators in the coming years in the United States, but also in other Western nations. Intelligent design is the latest attempt by religious institutions to blur the line between church and state in public institutions by wrapping religion in the cloak of science. Educators who are tempted by the possibility of bridging this divide would do well to remember that their primary responsibility is to the students in their care. It will only do them harm to teach them that religion has the explanatory power to supplant science--it is the historical equivalent of erasing the last five hundred years of scientific progress in favor of medieval religious dogma. Educators should collectively take a stand against intelligent design and commit themselves to providing the most accurate education possible to their students."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alter, J. (2005, August 15). Monkey see, monkey do. Newsweek, p. 27.
• Bainbridge, W.L. (2002). Leaving children behind. Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology, 11(2), pp. 20-22.
• Eidsmoe, J. (2006, January 23). An "intelligently designed" ruling? The New American, 22(2), p. 35.
• For devolution. (2005, August 29). National Review, 57(15), p. 13.
• Passarella, G. (2006, December 26). An evolving practice. The Legal Intelligencer. Infotrac OneFile. Gale Databases.

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