AUSTIN — More than two decades after Texas ended a virtual ban on coverage of evolution in science textbooks, the debate over how evolution should be taught to high school students goes on — and on.
State Board of Education members will hold a public hearing Tuesday on proposed high school biology textbooks and e-books that will be used in schools for eight years beginning next fall.
Not surprisingly, treatment of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in those materials has again sparked sharp disagreements between social conservatives and science educators.
After decades of battling to limit or even eliminate the teaching of evolution, critics appear to have adopted a new strategy. They want the books to leave open the possibility of other explanations for the origins of humans and other life forms.
But the political situation on the education panel has changed since 2009, when it decided the standards for science classes throughout the state. Social conservatives then were able to push for questions about evolution. Now, their near-majority on the board is gone. So they may have trouble exerting influence on textbook publishers.
“This is a very different group of people than were here when the science standards were approved in 2009,” said board member Thomas Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant. Ratliff defeated the creationist board member who led the charge to question basic tenets of Darwin’s theory in science books and classes.
“I have a high degree of confidence that a reasonable conclusion will be reached regarding the biology materials,” he said. He cited the “very high marks” that the initial drafts of the seven books received from leading science educator groups.
That was before state textbook review panels scrutinized them this summer.
The committees included several evolution critics and creationists. Several have urged the education board to not adopt the books unless publishers include more disclaimers on evolution.
One reviewer even suggested that coverage of “creation science” be mandated for every biology textbook. That would violate a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The decision banned teaching of creationism in science classes.
Most criticism of the books has been more along the lines of State Board of Education Chairwoman Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands. She testified to a legislative committee this year on how evolution was covered in lesson plans used in hundreds of school districts.
“Our intent is to teach all sides of scientific explanation,” she told lawmakers. “But I couldn’t find anything that might be seen as another side to the theory of evolution. Every link, every lesson was taught as: ‘This is how the origin of life happened. This is what the fossil record proved.’ That is all fine. But that is only one side.”
That perspective was mirrored in one review of the biology textbook publisher McGraw-Hill submitted.
“The conclusions and tenets of evolutionary theory, while not declared as being unimpeachable, are nevertheless offered without any suggestion that there are competing scientific theories,” said one reviewer. He did not specify what those theories are.
He complained that “the theory that life most definitely emerged [from primitive organisms] is simply a foregone conclusion.”
But scholars from the University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University gave the proposed textbooks a thumbs-up in a report prepared for the Texas Freedom Network.
“Our reviews reveal that creationists on the State Board of Education have failed to pressure publishers into including ‘junk science’ that questions evolutionary theory in the new high school biology materials,” the science educators said.
All the publishers, they wrote, avoided “pseudoscience intended to water down or disprove evolution.”
For example, the textbook Pearson Education submitted offers: “All historical records are incomplete, and the history of life is no exception. The evidence we do have, however, tells an unmistakable story of evolutionary change.”
Further, the book adds, “every scientific test has supported Darwin’s basic ideas about evolution.”
Such statements have stirred criticism from social conservatives. They want to leave the door open for students to consider other explanations for the origin of humans.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20130915-evolution-at-center-of-new-texas-education-board-debate-over-science-textbooks-and-e-books.ece
Creationism as science...when education becomes a political football instead of a search for truth. America is stupid
State Board of Education members will hold a public hearing Tuesday on proposed high school biology textbooks and e-books that will be used in schools for eight years beginning next fall.
Not surprisingly, treatment of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in those materials has again sparked sharp disagreements between social conservatives and science educators.
After decades of battling to limit or even eliminate the teaching of evolution, critics appear to have adopted a new strategy. They want the books to leave open the possibility of other explanations for the origins of humans and other life forms.
But the political situation on the education panel has changed since 2009, when it decided the standards for science classes throughout the state. Social conservatives then were able to push for questions about evolution. Now, their near-majority on the board is gone. So they may have trouble exerting influence on textbook publishers.
“This is a very different group of people than were here when the science standards were approved in 2009,” said board member Thomas Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant. Ratliff defeated the creationist board member who led the charge to question basic tenets of Darwin’s theory in science books and classes.
“I have a high degree of confidence that a reasonable conclusion will be reached regarding the biology materials,” he said. He cited the “very high marks” that the initial drafts of the seven books received from leading science educator groups.
That was before state textbook review panels scrutinized them this summer.
The committees included several evolution critics and creationists. Several have urged the education board to not adopt the books unless publishers include more disclaimers on evolution.
One reviewer even suggested that coverage of “creation science” be mandated for every biology textbook. That would violate a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The decision banned teaching of creationism in science classes.
Most criticism of the books has been more along the lines of State Board of Education Chairwoman Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands. She testified to a legislative committee this year on how evolution was covered in lesson plans used in hundreds of school districts.
“Our intent is to teach all sides of scientific explanation,” she told lawmakers. “But I couldn’t find anything that might be seen as another side to the theory of evolution. Every link, every lesson was taught as: ‘This is how the origin of life happened. This is what the fossil record proved.’ That is all fine. But that is only one side.”
That perspective was mirrored in one review of the biology textbook publisher McGraw-Hill submitted.
“The conclusions and tenets of evolutionary theory, while not declared as being unimpeachable, are nevertheless offered without any suggestion that there are competing scientific theories,” said one reviewer. He did not specify what those theories are.
He complained that “the theory that life most definitely emerged [from primitive organisms] is simply a foregone conclusion.”
But scholars from the University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University gave the proposed textbooks a thumbs-up in a report prepared for the Texas Freedom Network.
“Our reviews reveal that creationists on the State Board of Education have failed to pressure publishers into including ‘junk science’ that questions evolutionary theory in the new high school biology materials,” the science educators said.
All the publishers, they wrote, avoided “pseudoscience intended to water down or disprove evolution.”
For example, the textbook Pearson Education submitted offers: “All historical records are incomplete, and the history of life is no exception. The evidence we do have, however, tells an unmistakable story of evolutionary change.”
Further, the book adds, “every scientific test has supported Darwin’s basic ideas about evolution.”
Such statements have stirred criticism from social conservatives. They want to leave the door open for students to consider other explanations for the origin of humans.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20130915-evolution-at-center-of-new-texas-education-board-debate-over-science-textbooks-and-e-books.ece
Creationism as science...when education becomes a political football instead of a search for truth. America is stupid