Evolution foes score split decision in State Board of Education

After a 7-7 vote allowed expiration of a requirement that Texas high school students evaluate the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution, the State Board of Education passed new standards calling on biology students to “analyze, evaluate and critique” scientific theories.

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AUSTIN—After a 7-7 vote allowed expiration of a requirement that Texas high school students evaluate the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution, the State Board of Education passed new standards calling on biology students to “analyze, evaluate and critique” scientific theories.

The board voted 13-2 to approve this guideline: “In all fields of science; analyze, evaluate and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning and experimental and observational testing including all sides of scientific evidence of those scientific explanations so as to encourage critical thinking by the student.”

The conservative Free Market Foundation hailed the board decision as a “victory of science over censorship.” An e-mail sent to supporters of the foundation and the related Liberty Legal Institute noted the language approved by the board was “just as strong” as the “strengths and weaknesses” terminology the group sought to uphold.

“Today’s State Board of Education vote is validation that the people of Texas and the State Board of Education reject censorship in the classroom and embrace open and critical discussion in the science classroom,” the e-mail said.

Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network , asserted the board-approved language allows “plenty of footholds for creationist attacks on evolution to make their way into Texas classrooms.”

“Through a series of contradictory and convoluted amendments, the board crafted a road map that creationists will use to pressure publishers into putting phony arguments attacking established science into textbooks,” Miller said.


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