|
Texas Education Board Adopts "Mixed Messages" on Evolution |
|
The Fort-Worth Telegram reports from the Education Board's votes yesterday. As I posted yesterday, science supporters successfully (if barely) turned back an effort to emphasize "weaknesses" in evolution in the curriculum.
But the board also adopted a string of amendments that affect the teaching of natural selection and common ancestry, key tenets of the theory of evolution.
In one amendment, the board agreed to require high school biology students to "analyze and evaluate the sufficiency or insufficiency of natural selection to explain the complexity of the cell." I'm not sure how "sufficiency and insufficiency" are much different than "strengths and weaknesses", much less more acceptable. Texas Freedom Network adds:
The amendments approved today are very problematic, regardless of the important victory over "strengths and weaknesses." We anticipate that all 15 board members will be participating tomorrow, however, including a pro-science member who was absent today. So there is still time to reverse course. Stay tuned for more amendments and the final vote today. |
