Academic Freedom?

I live in Arkansas...I probably don't need to say much more to my fellow scientists. This is the state that recently had a Young Earth Creationist as its governor (the same one that now has a show on Fox). As such, I've heard the phrase "Academic Freedom" more times than I care to admit. This site really highlights the stupidity of the movement. Though I think my favorite line may be this:

Don't worry if 99.9% of the experts on some subject agree on one conclusion about the facts -- if your 'gut' says differently, then go for it! No matter how wacky the idea is, you can usually find a handful of cranks with Ph.D.s to back you up!

The site as a whole makes a great point: what's the difference between academic freedom and a free-for-all? If we start allowing intelligent design creationism in the classroom as some form of protected speech, what's next? Would it be too much of a stretch to imagine a professor, somewhere, somehow espousing the idea that the earth is flat? We have academic standards for a reason: to make sure that students are taught factual positions, not to indoctrinate. If teachers want to give high school students a chance to think critically about a theory (yes, I'm thinking of evolution), have at it. But don't go at it unless you're really willing to teach it. Because let's face it: evolution is a complicated theory, and it takes more than reading a couple of articles to understand it. I'm all for teaching critical thinking and scientific skepticism, but not at the price of actually teaching the basic science.

You have to give credit to the ID proponents, though, for being deviously clever. Their famous stickers are a perfect example of the "poisoning the well" fallacy, and what better way to play off of public ignorance than famous "list of dissenting scientists"? Yeah, let's teach that there is a controversy, but let's use it as an opportunity to learn. Put intelligent design in the classroom as what it is: bad science. I'm sure it would go really well right next to the sections on spontaneous generation.