An open letter to David Klepper
Dear Mr. Klepper,
I don't know if I have ever read a more a supposedly unbiased news article that so obviously showed a bias than your front page story that ran yesterday in The Kansas City Star. Granted, it's hard for a paper to stay perfectly middle-of-the-road on political issues but, individual opinion on issues is not supposed to stare readers in the face anywhere except for in editorial pieces. This was not the case in your piece. Take, for example, this quote from a 17-year-old high school student.
“I’m worried about the possibility that this may make it harder for me to get a job outside of Kansas,” she said. “I thought it was pretty sad. I feel bad for the little kids who are going to learn this stuff.”
Okay, can someone please tell me why a decision made by the state in which someone lives would affect their job choices later in life? This student, as you reported in the article, plans to study science in college. This week's decision doesn't affect the teaching of evolution, it only suggests that there could be a creator, that intelligent design should at least be looked into. It leaves the book open and, if anything, gives students an opportunity to question dogma that is being taught everywhere. It gives them something else to think about. If they are a strong supporter of evolution, it gives them reasons to research the theory and to be armed with evidence and backing and to prove their point to those who support intelligent design. If anything, this will make people better thinkers. Because, it's important to understand why one believes something and this, I think, will make people do that. And mostly, in today's post modern culture, tolerance is a virtue - and this should be true even in the classroom where there should be tolerance for views that fall outside the agreed-upon norm.
But please, David Klepper, keep your opinion out of it. It's obvious you had an agenda when setting out to write this piece. It begins in your lead "Six hands were all it took to dismiss the pleas of educators and a century of science Tuesday. Evolution is officially a flawed theory in Kansas." And it doesn't stop there.
Signed,
Jessi, a trying to be unbiased, local journalist who used to work for your paper and just wants good reporting to triumph,
I don't know if I have ever read a more a supposedly unbiased news article that so obviously showed a bias than your front page story that ran yesterday in The Kansas City Star. Granted, it's hard for a paper to stay perfectly middle-of-the-road on political issues but, individual opinion on issues is not supposed to stare readers in the face anywhere except for in editorial pieces. This was not the case in your piece. Take, for example, this quote from a 17-year-old high school student.
“I’m worried about the possibility that this may make it harder for me to get a job outside of Kansas,” she said. “I thought it was pretty sad. I feel bad for the little kids who are going to learn this stuff.”
Okay, can someone please tell me why a decision made by the state in which someone lives would affect their job choices later in life? This student, as you reported in the article, plans to study science in college. This week's decision doesn't affect the teaching of evolution, it only suggests that there could be a creator, that intelligent design should at least be looked into. It leaves the book open and, if anything, gives students an opportunity to question dogma that is being taught everywhere. It gives them something else to think about. If they are a strong supporter of evolution, it gives them reasons to research the theory and to be armed with evidence and backing and to prove their point to those who support intelligent design. If anything, this will make people better thinkers. Because, it's important to understand why one believes something and this, I think, will make people do that. And mostly, in today's post modern culture, tolerance is a virtue - and this should be true even in the classroom where there should be tolerance for views that fall outside the agreed-upon norm.
But please, David Klepper, keep your opinion out of it. It's obvious you had an agenda when setting out to write this piece. It begins in your lead "Six hands were all it took to dismiss the pleas of educators and a century of science Tuesday. Evolution is officially a flawed theory in Kansas." And it doesn't stop there.
Signed,
Jessi, a trying to be unbiased, local journalist who used to work for your paper and just wants good reporting to triumph,
posted by Pensive Girl @ 10:08 AM
3 Comments:
At 8:37 PM,
Anonymous said…
The media and culture has made certain concepts or "theories" so mainstream that anyone who even wants to question something for the sake of investigating the accepted truth is labeled an extremist. Slanted articles such as the one that was splatered on the front page of the Kansas City Star perpetuate that notion. So if I am to be labled an extremist, label me an extremest for the truth. If you truely seek it you will find it.
At 11:41 PM,
Anonymous said…
Don't knock Klepper. David Klepper is the man. If you knock Klepper, I knock you. and trust me, you don't want that!
Bitch!
At 9:52 AM,
Marty Nickel said…
David Klepper's is a propagandist. He spreads fear and hysteria about positions he is against. The fault is with the Kansas City Star for publishing his article as if it were journalism.
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