Draft Of Revised Science Standards Further Undermines Teaching Of Evolution

New draft standards for three of eight high school science courses proposed by the State Board of Education on Monday and up for discussion in today’s SOBE meeting are being called a “leap backward” from a version proposed by writing teams made up of educators last September.

Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, a Texas-based organization that combats the religious right, says that the new proposed standards are loaded with buzz words for the anti-evolution sect:

“All of a sudden, a new draft appears with loaded buzz words that evolution deniers have used repeatedly to launch phony attacks on evolution,” Miller said. “This raises serious questions about what and who is driving the process here. We hope writing teams will have an opportunity to fully discuss and reverse this troubling change.”

Proposes standards released in September developed by science teachers removed a requirement that students learn the “strengths and weaknesses” of scientific theories like evolution.The new drafts for the three courses, however, require that students learn the “strengths and limitations” of evolution.

According to TFN, that language echoes recommendations from three strident evolution deniers appointed by board members to review the draft standards last month. One of those reviewers is Stephen Meyer, vice president of the prominent anti-evolution pressure group Discovery Institute in Seattle.

More from TFN:

The new draft science standards also call on middle school students to “discuss possible alternative explanations” for scientific concepts. That language opens the door for sneaking supernatural explanations like creationism into science classrooms, Miller said.

“Scientists have been crystal clear in explaining that these phony arguments against evolution are based on ideology, not science,” Miller said. “It’s like arguing that there are weaknesses or alternatives to gravity or that maybe Earth doesn’t really revolve around the sun after all. And the price for dumbing down the science curriculum will be paid by Texas kids who aren’t prepared to compete and succeed in the 21st century.”

Efforts to undermine science education in Texas public schools will discourage 21st-century industry from locating here, said Dr. Andrew Ellington, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Ellington has founded two biotechnology companies.

“It is critical to ensure that students in Texas have a high quality science education not only because it is their birthright as Texans, but also because it is critical for the economic future of Texas,” Ellington said. “The biotechnology industry is increasingly playing a role in the state’s economy, and there is a critical need for students and scientists who have been well-trained in biology to staff and invent new companies.”

Rabbi Nancy Kasten of Dallas called on the state board not to put public schools in the position of deciding whose religious beliefs will be promoted in science classrooms.

“Acknowledging that we can never know everything there is to know about our world is not an argument for dismantling the things that we have been able to discern and prove about the world,” Rabbi Kasten said. “Questions of theology, morality and faith can be addressed in public schools, but they should be separated from proven science and included in curricula that deal with theology, culture and other related topics.”

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