The Ohio School Board has approved a curriculum for the field of evolution that includes the religious theory disguised as science * Science supporters will petition the court
The Ohio School Board has approved an evolution curriculum that includes the religious theory disguised as science. Supporters of the plan claim that it offers ways to analyze evolution, but scientific groups opposing and criticizing the plan say they plan to file a petition against the decision.
After six months of hearing testimony, team members voted 13 to five against in favor of a series of "Critical Analysis of Evolution" lesson plans for schools that will be used in science classes and final exams.
Critics say the lessons include elements of a theory known as "intelligent design" which claims that a higher power must have intervened in the process of creating life. "I am convinced that this is a religious effort disguised as science," said team member Robin Hobis.
At the center of the controversy are 22 pages out of more than 500 pages that schools can use to teach science, approved last year for all grades. No student will be tested on intelligent planning, committee member Jennifer Sheets said.
The vote was welcomed by the Seattle-based Discovery organization, which supports the study of intelligent design in science classes, saying that the state should teach both evolution and "scientific criticisms of the theory of evolution." (The quotation marks are mine, because if there is any criticism, it may be on one marginal detail or another regarding the exact mechanism that allows the variation from generation to generation, or rather the dosage between the mechanisms, but surely there is no scientist today who disputes the very correctness of evolution. A.B.)
"The vote is an important victory for students and their academic freedom to learn all sides of open scientific debates surrounding the theory of evolution," said Bruce Chapman, president of the Discovery Association.
Staff member Sam Shulmer complained that these classes "degrade the public education system in Ohio because they contradict scientific evidence," he said. Some scientific groups, including the National Academy of Sciences oppose these classes. The others predict that the plan will have to be confronted in the courts.
"There are many opponents to the program - high school teachers, committee members, parents and the students themselves," said Patricia Princehouse, a professor at Case Western Reserve University who led the lobby against these classes.
Council member James Turner, who was appointed to the council by Ohio Governor Bob Taft, said that he was impressed by the number of scientists who support the plan, who claimed that the opponents allowed their concerns about what the plan might lead to, to reflect their opinions.
"The team members had to rely on the guidelines for biological evolution," said Steven Weeks, a biologist from Ekron University. "If it is necessary, for example, to remove a brain tumor, then you turn to experts in the field, not to mechanics," he said.
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