Every year in the United States, state legislatures contemplate bills regarding the teaching of evolution, climate change and other allegedly “controversial subjects”. Known generically as “Academic Freedom Acts”, these proposed bills direct teachers to “critically analyze” these scientific disciplines, or to present the “full range of scientific views”. Although these bills are couched in terms of academic freedom and critical thinking education, these bills have a history – and that history shows that bills of this sort are the current manifestations of the old creationism and evolution controversy that has dogged science education for over 100 years.