Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

Lysenko being a case in point.

We can't run science classes based on religion - or on any other doctrinal system like allegiance to the communist party, Lysenko being a case in point

Quote:

There goes the last vestiges of my dignity .

Hell, youre a Kallikak, everything else is up.

SOmeone tell the AUstralian

In fact, even the veracity of its history is greatly in debate by scholars.

My comment was for the deniers whove said that NOONE is interpreting the Bible as science.

(measured by tests),

Tell us about the "tests" fm. I'm all agog to know about all the fiddling which was in obvious operation when you got your certificates.

Steer clear from religion altogether, stick to scientific inquiry.

Another example, from politics, is the inane support for Israeli settlements in Arab lands on grounds that "the Bible says so"; this is an actual quote from one of our politicians.

Trying to associate the Bible with land grabbing will only work on sites which attract stupid members.

Texas Board of Education to debate evolution again
(Terrence Stutz, The Dallas Morning News, July 18, 2011)

AUSTIN, Texas -- Human evolution and Charles Darwin's theories, hot topics for the Texas State Board of Education when they approved new science standards two years ago, are back this week for a new round of debate.

Board members are scheduled to review and adopt supplemental science materials that incorporate the new curriculum standards adopted in 2009, including those that deal with evolution and Darwin's principles on the development of life on Earth.

Because the state couldn't afford new science books for public schools, students will have to continue using books that are seven years old for at least a couple more years. But to give students access to the new science standards, the board will adopt a list of supplemental science materials to be delivered electronically to schools this fall.

The board will make its choices after determining which of the submitted science e-books cover the new curriculum. But board members will debate which comply and which don't.

Member Mavis Knight, D-Dallas, said review of the science materials will inevitably bring the board to discuss evolution again. Two years ago, social conservatives on the board sought to require that high school students learn about flaws in natural selection, common ancestry and other Darwin principles.

"I don't think that debate is ever settled," said Knight, who was on the winning side of several close votes in 2009 that went against evolution critics.

New board Chairwoman Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, a member of the social conservative bloc, gave a preview of the debate during a recent speech at a Texas Eagle Forum meeting in Conroe. She said the six social conservatives will have to find two additional votes to prevail on key issues like science books.

"There are six true, conservative Christians on the board. So we now have to fight for two votes," she told forum members. Some interpreted that as a slap at the other five Republicans on the panel, who also consider themselves conservative. The remaining four board members are Democrats.

One of the biology e-books that is up for review includes sections on "intelligent design" - the proposition that development of living things is best explained by an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as Darwin's principle of natural selection, commonly called "survival of the fittest."

Opponents say it's religious-based creationism, though advocates reject that link.

The Discovery Institute, a conservative think tank based in Seattle that is a leading proponent of intelligent design, has filed with the State Board of Education its evaluation of 10 supplemental biology and evolution e-books up for consideration. The institute concluded that nine of them fail to meet Texas standards on teaching evolution.

Only one "makes any serious attempt to fulfill the call for meaningful critical analysis of biological and chemical evolution," the report argues.

The Discovery Institute also accused several of the publishers of promoting "notoriously inaccurate icons of evolution" in their materials, such as a long-used chart that shows similarities between human embryos and the embryos of other vertebrates. The institute says the chart is inaccurate and outdated.

The Texas Freedom Network, a nonprofit group that sides with mainstream science teachers against evolution critics, has taken issue with the Discovery Institute, describing its report as "one long complaint that the instructional materials do not cover creationist-fabricated arguments against evolution."

Kathy Miller, the group's president, also contended that social conservatives on the board have appointed anti-evolution creationists to the review team that is examining the 14 biology e-books submitted for consideration. The panel has presented its findings to the board, like other review teams appointed to evaluate the various science materials proposed for all grade levels.

"This is just one more step in an almost obsessive campaign by some state board members to promote their own personal and ideological beliefs, not mainstream science, in Texas classrooms," Miller said.

Causing much of the debate is a high school biology e-book submitted by International Databases LLC. It's the first submission to Texas by the small publisher, which does business out of a modest suburban home in the Albuquerque, N.M., area.

Unlike the other biology materials under consideration, the International Databases e-book promotes intelligent design in biology classes despite a federal court decision that teaching of intelligent design in public schools violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

Stephen Sample, president of International Databases, said he's not trying to introduce religion into the science curriculum. He noted that he has submitted a second high school biology book that does not include mention of intelligent design.

"I am not trying to bring the book of Genesis into science classes," he said. "One of the reasons I decided to enter the bidding for these books was to give Texas students a fair and honest treatment of evolution. The scientific community is split on Darwin's theory, and my material reflects that."

Proponents say that the vast majority of scientists endorse the fundamental theory of evolution, even if they disagree on some of the details.

Sample, a science teacher for 35 years in California and New Mexico, said the 2009 curriculum standards adopted by the board called for instructional materials to include a critical analysis of key principles of Darwin - and he contended that some leading publishers have sidestepped the requirement.

"If they don't present material that critically analyzes neo-Darwinism, then their books are wrong and outdated," he said.

The Discovery Institute gave good marks to Sample's e-book, but said it should not include coverage of intelligent design.

Other publishers have said their submissions comply with the board standards and some science educators who have review the other e-books have given several of them good marks.

Supplemental materials adopted by the State Board of Education will have an advantage over those not on the state list, but school districts will be able to choose whatever e-books they want and have them paid for by the state. Previously, a district could select textbooks and other materials not on the state-approved list, but they had to use local funds to buy them.

The Legislature appropriated about $60 million to purchase the supplemental science e-books this year.

Board members will hold a public hearing on the science materials on Thursday before deciding which ones to adopt. A final vote will be taken Friday.

"one long complaint that the instructional materials do not cover creationist-fabricated arguments against evolution."

But for my daughter Julian,
I would she were well bolted with a Bridle,
That leaves her work to play the clack,
And lets her wheel stand idle,
For it serves not for she-ministers,
Farriers nor Furriers,
Cobblers nor Button-makers,
To descant on the Bible.