Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring. He can be reached at BruceLear2419@gmail.com  

Americans love expressing their opinions. After all, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees free speech. You’ll find those loud opinions at any sporting event. Sit in the stands at any field or gym and you’ll hear the bleacher experts sitting fifteen rows up, sometimes three beers in.

Trying to get a family to reach a consensus on where to eat is almost as complicated as diplomatic détente. Strategic planning meetings are a kind of American torture chamber. And we’ve all read the “expert opinions” on Facebook.

On Sunday morning, I talk back to the TV. I’m shouting as if my voice will somehow magically reach through the screen and make the politician being interviewed accept my opinion. It makes no sense, but it feels so right.

But sometimes opinions simply have no weight. For example, if you’re standing in the rain and in your opinion, it’s not raining, you’ll still get soaked.

That’s not an opinion; it’s denial.

Here’s an example of denial that impacts our future. Iowa will “get soaked” if these opinions override real facts.

The Iowa Department of Education is trying to remove references to climate change and biological evolution from the science standards taught in middle and high schools. The new proposed standards replace “climate change” with “climate trends,” and replace “biological evolution” with “change over time.”

I’m certainly not a scientist, but I know words matter, especially when discussing scientific facts. I’m reminded of my favorite Mark Twain quote about the power of words. Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ‘Tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

A state agency in Iowa is trying to use “lightning bug language” to trick students into believing a political opinion. Those on the right don’t want to admit humans have any role in climate change. Many fundamentalist Christians favor a literal Biblical creation story.  

Refusing to acknowledge humans contribute to climate change is like pretending there’s no correlation between smoking and lung cancer. The Biblical creation story isn’t science. It’s a belief. 

The Department of Education claims a 37-member team of science educators approved the proposed changes to the science education standards. But that’s not true, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette’s reporting. That team retained the original wording from the 2015 science standards and made no changes concerning evolution and climate change. Staff at the state agency made those edits.

“The document that was presented for public input was not what we voted on and came to consensus,” Angie Breitbach, a team member from Dubuque Community School District, said during a recent public forum.

You do not have to be a scientist to understand climate change is real and it’s impacting the world. The horrific flooding, extreme storms, and fires are not just weather as usual. We need to listen to experts, not politicians or friends who slept through most of high school science who now are experts on Facebook.

You may find outliers in the scientific community who disregard climate change and evolution. They may offer opinions for hire.

The last few legislative sessions, Iowa Republican lawmakers have called for rooting out politics from classrooms. Now, the Department of Education is trying to inject its opinions into the science classroom. 

Ironic, don’t you think?

What can we do?

The public comment period for the science standards is ongoing until February 3. But the survey provided for input reminds me of a political push poll. (A push poll is a survey where the objective is to sway voters using manipulative questions.)

I chose to write my responses in the survey, instead of the option of “providing more detailed feedback regarding specific standards,” simply because that option is difficult to maneuver and even more difficult to read. I would suggest clearly writing in the space provided in each question, your objection to the standards written by the Department of Education. That is how I completed the survey. I urge you to do the same.
https://educate.iowa.gov/headline-story/2025-01-03/public-comment-period-opens-state-science-standards

At legislative forums, we need to ask state lawmakers if they support anonymous agency personnel making unilateral changes, overriding a committee of 37 science educators.

If these changes stand as revised, teachers need to continue teaching the truth. The standards are guidelines, and teachers should continue to teach what research strongly shows.

I respect differing opinions. My hobby is writing editorials, so I’m certainly not shy about sharing mine. But we shouldn’t be deceived by opinion masquerading as fact, especially in the science classroom.