In three states this week, battles rage on about the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution in public schools. In Georgia, the case over textbook disclaimers in a major suburban school district has reached a federal court. In small rural school districts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the cases are still at the local level, but mark the first true victory for intelligent-design enthusiasts, who say that evolution happened through the hand of a greater being, not mutation and natural selection. The situation in Pennsylvania marks the first time intelligent design has been explicitly included in school curricula.
Georgia
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Other news and links
Georgia
In Cobb County, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, a lawsuit brought by six parents
and supported by the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union claims
that a disclaimer placed inside the covers of middle and high school science
texts is contrary to the separation of church and state. They say that the singling
out of evolution is the school system's attempt to inject religion into science
class.
The disclaimer stickers read: "This textbook contains material on evolution.
Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This
material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically
considered." The school board voted to place the stickers in science textbooks
in 2002, after a local citizen who considers herself a creationist brought in
a petition with 2,300 signatures (see Geotimes,
November 2002).
Ongoing battles over the disclaimers since 2002 have led to a trial in federal
court that began on Monday. Testimony concluded on Wednesday, and the judge
will hear closing statements today. He has not set a timetable for when he will
issue a decision on the case, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
During the trial, scientists, teachers, parents and school board members all
testified. Brown University biologist and high school textbook author Kenneth
Miller and North Cobb High School science teacher Wes McCoy both testified that
they view the disclaimers as a warning to students that diminishes the status
of evolution among all scientific theories, as reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
They also raised the worry that college admission boards would think less of
Cobb County's students if they hadn't been taught evolution. On the other side,
the school board members said that they knew that the disclaimers opened the
possibility that religion would be brought up in a science class, but they wanted
the students to feel comfortable voicing their own beliefs, according to the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that creationism was a religious belief
that could not be taught in public schools along with evolution. However, the
court has never ruled about intelligent design or any other alternative theories
of origin. The issue for the judge to decide in this case is whether or not
the school board intended for other theories to be taught alongside evolution
when they put the disclaimers in place, says Nick Matzke with the National
Center for Science Education in Oakland, Calif. If the board intended other
theories such as creationism to be taught, he says, it would run contrary to
the Supreme Court's earlier ruling.
Pennsylvania
Farther north, in Dover, Pa., the local school board voted on Oct. 18 to revise
its science curriculum to include intelligent design. The curriculum revision
they agreed upon in a 6-3 vote reads: "Students will be made aware of gaps/problems
in Darwin's Theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited
to, intelligent design. Note: Origins of life will not be taught."
This revision is the culmination of a months-long bitter debate in the district
about how evolution should be handled in the district's science classrooms,
says Nick Matzke with the National Center for Science Education. "The statement
including intelligent design in the curriculum is blatant." More recently,
he says, creationism in schools has been more "vague and sneaky,"
couched in terms like "teaching the children to think critically."
This is the first school district in the nation to openly require the teaching
of intelligent design, he says.
The controversy began this summer when the board selected the biology textbook
to be used for this school year, and one board member vociferously complained
that the text was too focused on Darwin's theory of evolution. The board member
had been pushing to include Of Pandas and People, an intelligent design
text, as supplemental material, Matzke says — a proposal the board narrowly
defeated. On Oct. 4, however, an anonymous donor proposed to donate 50 copies
of the book for reference materials to be placed in the classroom. The superintendent
of schools approved the donation as a compromise of sorts, Matzke says.
But on Oct. 18, the issue resurfaced in a heated debate, after which the board voted to revise the curriculum, despite the challenges of nearly a dozen community members, according to the York Daily Record. Following the vote, a board member resigned, saying she had been asked on more than one occasion what her religious beliefs were and that her beliefs should not be a part of serving on a board, as reported by the York Daily Record. Two other members also resigned. A school board election will be held in December to replace the empty seats. In the meantime, people on both sides of the debate are gearing up for a possible legal battle.
Wisconsin
In northwestern Wisconsin last June, a small school board serving 1,000 students
voted unanimously to direct the district's science departments to teach all
theories of origin. Parents and citizens in the Grantsburg district grew concerned
about the meaning and purpose of the motion and raised questions to the board
about whether they intend that educators teach creationism and intelligent design
as well as evolution, says Susan Spath with the National Center for Science
Education. On Oct. 12, after meeting with parents and citizens, the board revised
the policy to read: "When theories of origin are taught, students will
study various scientific models or theories of origin and identify the scientific
data supporting each." What exactly that means, Spath says, remains to
be seen.
Following the decision, 43 deans in the University of Wisconsin system sent
a letter to the Grantsburg school board and superintendent of schools urging
that the board withdraw this policy. More than 300 biology and religious studies
faculty from private and public universities across the state sent another letter
to the board, also suggesting thatthe policy was counterproductive to the education
of Grantsburg's students, according to the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel.
"Here in Wisconsin, we care about education," said Don Waller, a
University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of botany, in the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel. "The School Board and superintendent in Grantsburg have a
responsibility to promote, not restrict, education," he told the paper.
And insisting that teachers teach alternative theories of origins "takes
time away from real learning, confuses some students and is a misuse of limited
class time and public funds," he said.
The president of the school board is a Baptist minister, whose congregation
recently hosted a talk by an avowed creationist whose Web site says he travels
and lectures on the "Christian biblical response" to evolution, Spath
says. The school board and superintendent are defending the policy, saying that
it is meant to foster critical thinking, according to the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel. But the concern is whether they are trying to insert religious
doctrine into the science class. Many parents are trying to get the motion withdrawn,
Spath says, and it's possible that this situation will come to litigation.
In other news, a member on the Kansas state board of education recently proposed that the board establish curriculum standards for a course on comparative religions, according to the Kansas City Star. This year, the board will be revising the science curriculum standards, and proponents of evolution worry that the newly elected board will try to promote creationism or intelligent design in the science curriculum (see Geotimes, October 2004). The board member, a Democrat, was hoping to sidestep the teaching of any religious aspects in science class, by suggesting a separate religion class. The board has yet to consider the proposal.
Megan Sever
Links:
"Evolution
opponents score in Georgia," Geotimes, November 2002
"The evolving
debate over evolution" in "The Geoscience Vote," Geotimes,
October 2004
Atlanta
Journal-Constitution coverage of Cobb County case
York
Daily Record coverage of Pennsylvania case
Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel coverage of Wisconsin case
Kansas
City Star coverage of Kansas case
National
Center for Science Education
 |
Geotimes Home | AGI Home | Information Services | Geoscience Education | Public Policy | Programs | Publications | Careers  |