Don:
On EVOLUTION:
Creating Classroom Confusion
Darwin Takes a Drubbing
By Mark Baumgartner
ABCNEWS.com
June 17 - Open any biology textbook used in
Alabama's public schools and you'll find pasted to
the front cover a disclaimer casting doubt on the
words within.
It's just a small piece of paper. But in the education battle
between science and religion, it shows the tactics used to sow
confusion in our children's classrooms.
The disclaimer, required by the state Board of Education,
makes kids question the science that shows humans evolved
over millions of years, and to consider instead that they were
created by God, as the Bible says.
While creationism outside the classroom is a matter of
personal belief, the law says that it cannot be taught in public
schools. Unable to include creationism in science teaching,
some groups are instead working at the local level to cast
doubts on evolution.
The result, many scientists and teachers say, is that
students cannot grasp the very foundations of biology,
geology, and other sciences that evolution stands upon.
"A student is not educated if he doesn't understand the
importance of evolution," says Eugenie Scott, director of the
National Center for Science Education in El Cerrito, Calif.
"It's a matter of science literacy."
Advocates say that understanding evolutionary change is
essential to understanding vital processes, such as how
bacteria become resistant to antibiotics and how a changing
climate impacts species.
"A failure to teach effectively about evolution will rob
students of a precious opportunity-to understand how life
on Earth has developed and to appreciate their own place in
the world," says Donald Kennedy of Stanford University.
Swaying School Boards
Science is being put to the test in classrooms across the
country by savvy, often stealthy campaigns to influence
school policies and ultimately, what kids learn.
In 1987, the Supreme
Court ruled that "creation
science" is a religious concept
and thus cannot be taught in
public schools. That hasn't
stopped religious activists.
And they're having varying
degrees of success.
In Arizona, the Board of
Education dropped the word
"evolution" from its 1996
science standards. In North
Carolina and Tennessee, the
legislatures mulled bills
requiring that evolution be
presented as theory, not fact.
And countless challenges
have been brought up in
school boards everywhere.
John Morris, president of
the Institute for Creation
Research in Santee, Calif.,
has been telling school
districts across the country
that he has scientific proof that Earth is just 6,000 years old
and that the first humans appeared on the sixth day of
creation. But when pressed for evidence, Morris' argument
ultimately ends up as just scorn for evolution.
Morris, who holds a doctorate in geological engineering
from the University of Oklahoma, even goes as far as to
blame recent schoolyard shootings on the teaching of
evolution.
"The teaching of evolution is doing damage," he says. "A
major textbook says students descended from flatworms .
What does that do to a person's self worth? If you have
animal instincts and animal desires, why not have sex," or give
in to any other desire?
Do Push Creation; Don't Push God
How can Morris' argument for Bible-based "science"
infiltrate a public school system, where the rules on separation
of church and state are clear?
Simple: Don't mention religion or God.
"Evidence for creation
can and must be taught
without any religious
doctrine,'' Morris says.
When pushed, though, he
concedes that creation is
God's handiwork and the
Bible is his text.
Scott, from the National
Center for Science
Education, says the
creationist political strategy
is "more anti-evolution than
pro-creationism."
Anti-evolutionists succeed by taking advantage of
teachers who lack the confidence or knowledge to stand up
to politically charged school boards and, in some cases,
powerful right-wing groups. Organizations such as Phyllis
Schlafly's Eagle Forum and the Rutherford Institute have lent
their backing to what are typically local skirmishes.
The National Academy of Sciences recently published a
manual, Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of
Science, which it hopes will give teachers the confidence to
teach the subject.
"Teachers are afraid,'" says Cissy Bennett, a high school
biology teacher in Mountain Springs, Ala. "Not necessarily
that they are going to lose their jobs, but they want to keep
the peace."
Temptation to Skip Evolution
Bennett says teachers who want to teach evolution get
support in many Alabama school districts. But in districts
where officials are hostile to evolution, it's tempting to skip
the subject.
"Evolution has been brushed over for years," she says. "A
lot of students don't know much about it."
Politics, too, is often on the side
of anti-evolutionists, for school
boards often lean to the right.
"What happens in community
after community is that only a small
percentage of voters vote for school
board candidates," says Scott.
"Candidates often pass out leaflets in
churches and don't show their faces
elsewhere in the community. With
fewer than 15 percent (of registered
voters) usually voting in school
board races, a minority can take
over quickly."
Kids Lose Out
In the small town of Sultan, Wash., parents in 1996 were
presented with the argument that creationism should be taught
alongside evolution as possible explanations for the origins of
life.
Middle school science teacher Meg Town took on
creationists and helped defeat a well-publicized proposal to
ban references to evolution and the age of Earth from science
classes, as well as a plan to buy a textbook on creationism.
She paid a price, though.
Her controversy-shy supervisor wanted to transfer her to
the high school to teach remedial math. Instead, she quit and
went to work in a neighboring district.
"It's the kids who are going to lose,"' says her husband
Mike Town, a high school biology teacher. "Other teachers
won't want to get involved with evolution because they don't
want the principal on their case."
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