 AUSTIN, Texas - More than two centuries after his birth and nearly 150 years after his groundbreaking On the Origin of Species was published, Charles Darwin is still a controversial character in Texas. And the latest battle over his legacy there could have implications for the nation's public schools.
In votes March 26 and 27, the Texas Board of Education narrowly defeated controversial language for state science standards that would have called for public school teachers to offer instruction on the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolutionary theory. But they also adopted language in several compromise amendments that, according to some science and civil liberties groups, could offer a foothold for creationist theories about the origins of life to climb into the state's classrooms and textbooks.
"I think the big picture was they essentially adopted amendments ...
that will allow creationists on the board to pressure publishers into
putting phony challenges to evolution in their textbooks that are based
on almost straight-up creationist arguments," said Dan Quinn,
communications director for the Texas Freedom Network, March 31.
Both literal "young-Earth" creationism and its close relative,
intelligent design theory, have lost repeated battles in federal courts
in recent years, with judges ruling that they are too tied to religious
teachings and too removed from scientific consensus to pass
constitutional muster. In response, many proponents of religious
explanations for the origins of life have shifted tactics to a "teach
the controversy" approach to teaching about evolution and other
controversial scientific theories in schools.
Creationism asserts God created the Earth in ways literally consistent
with the two creation stories found in the first two chapters of
Genesis. Intelligent design theory, meanwhile, does not necessitate
belief in literal six-day creationism, but posits that life is too
complex to have evolved merely by mutation and natural selection
without the aid of some unseen intelligent force guiding the process.
Proponents of creationism and intelligent design in several states have
attempted to force science teachers to offer evidence for and against
major parts of evolutionary theory, despite the fact that the vast
majority of the mainstream scientific community supports it. In fact,
most scientific professional societies contend, evolution is not a
"theory" as the term is used in non-scientific parlance. Rather, they
note, Darwin's observations have repeatedly been proven accurate, and
evolutionary concepts underpin much of modern biology, chemistry and
other disciplines.
One of the compromise amendments requires that students learn to
"analyze, evaluate and critique scientific explanations in all fields
of science." That includes "examining all sides of scientific evidence
of those scientific explanations so as to encourage critical thinking
by the student."
J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee,
said "only genuinely scientific critiques of evolution should be taught
in science class. Religious explanations of creation can be discussed
in social studies, Bible-as-literature or comparative religion
classes."
At least six other states - Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico,
Pennsylvania and South Carolina - have adopted science standards
requiring students to learn how to evaluate aspects of evolutionary
theory critically.
But Texas' decision is different, because it is one of the nation's
largest markets for school textbooks. Textbook publishers, therefore,
often write their texts to Texas standards.
Quinn said publishers will be faced with a Hobson's choice - write
books to suit standards that a conservative Texas education board will
approve the next time textbooks are chosen in 2011, or ignore the huge
Texas market altogether.
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