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State School Board Reaffirms Stand on Evolution Standards

Posted on: Wednesday, 31 May 2006, 18:00 CDT

By Bill Robinson, The State, Columbia, S.C.

May 31--The state Board of Education today reaffirmed its stance in support of changes to high school biology standards that includes compromise language for teaching about the origins of life.

The unanimous vote clears the way for the Education Oversight Committee to take up the issue at its June 12 meeting. By law, the oversight panel has the final say in approving all instructional standards teachers follow in delivering day-to-day lessons that the school board develops.

High school biology teachers had been in limbo about whether they needed to revise lesson plans because the two public education policymaking agencies were at loggerheads over revisions that emerged from a mandatory review of instructional guidelines for all science classes.

A one-page standard addressing how to teach "biological evolution and the diversity of life" to high school students came under scrutiny when state Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, lobbied to include the phrase "critical thinking" in the document. The board of education included the term in one of seven sentences that comprise the high school biology standard for evolution, a decision that triggered a backlash in the state's science-educator community.

Many teachers, including those at the collegiate level, objected to Fair's campaign, claiming he was trying to undermine the widely held scientific theories of the origins of life and natural selection credited to 19th century researcher Charles Darwin. Fair's critics said he was trying to compel public school educators to teach biblical theory of creationism, an assertion he and his supporters repeatedly rejected.

When Fair, who is a member of the school reform oversight panel, pushed for more forceful language that would give teachers wider leeway in talking about evolutionary theories, the two state education agencies became deadlocked over how -- or whether -- to proceed with changes.

A subcommittee of the oversight panel signaled May 22 that a reversal was in the works and recommended the state school board take another vote on standards that it initially approved in November 2005, including the one mention of "critical analysis" Fair wanted included.

Rep. Bob Walker, R-Spartanburg, and like Fair an EOC member, said he was satisfied the Legislature will deal with the wording issue through the annual state budget. It includes language directing the state Department of Education to find and purchase textbooks that incorporate "higher order thinking skills and critical thinking, which should be integrated throughout the core curriculum instructional materials."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The State, Columbia, S.C.

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Source: The State (Columbia, S.C.)

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