January 9, 2007 1:01PM # Silver Lining in the National Science Standard Cloud By [Adam B. Schaeffer](https://www.cato.org/people/adam-b-schaeffer) --- SHARE Andrew Coulson does a [wonderful job](https://www.cato.org/2007/01/08/dont-speak/) illuminating just how misguided and doomed national curriculum standards are … but there *is* a silver lining! With national science standards, we can all look forward to a vicious *national* debate on [Intelligent Design versus Evolutionary Theory](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32444-2005Mar13.html)! Just think of the fun: instead of those boring discussions of national security, we’ll have presidential debates and party litmus tests on Darwin … and if we’re lucky, on judicial nominees’ position on Darwin! Perhaps each party can include an entire *curriculum* in their platform. A national discussion about precisely what every single child should learn in their first 12 years of schooling is exactly what we [need to bring a bit of heat and life back](https://www.cato.org/2006/06/15/public-education-social-napalm/) into this snooze-fest [“Era of Good Feelings,”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Era_of_Good_Feelings) Part II that we’re living in. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).