AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — Three of six members of a panel appointed to review proposed curriculum standards for science classes in Texas public schools have criticized evolution.
And the additions could have an impact far beyond the 4.6 million students in the Lone Star State’s public schools.
Because Texas is one of the largest markets for textbook sales in the United States, publishers will use the standards in creating new textbooks, and then sell those books in other states as well. The Texas Freedom Network — an organization that counters the Religious Right — says the addition could have negative consequences for science education across the nation.
A conservative bloc on the Texas State Board of Education banded together to appoint three curriculum-review panelists critical of Darwinism. One of them, Stephen Meyer, is vice president of the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based group that advocates balancing evolution with teaching about “intelligent design.”
The theory promotes the conclusion that life is too complex to have evolved by chance, but that it shows the hand of a powerful master designer. Critics call it a pseudo-science and an excuse to bring religion into the classroom — simply an updated form of what used to be called “creation science.”
Meyer and another panel member, Ralph Seelke at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, co-wrote a textbook that questions tenets of Charles Darwin’s theory of how humans and other life forms evolved. Critics say that is a conflict of interest, because the book, Explore Evolution, could be on the list of approved textbooks when the state board finalizes its decision in 2011.
“It’s simply stunning that any state board members would even consider appointing authors of an anti-evolution textbook to a panel of scientists,” said Kathy Miller, president and executive director of the Texas Freedom Network. “Are they coming here to help write good science standards or to drum up a market for their lousy textbook?”
Casey Luskin, program officer for public policy and legal affairs at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, said textbook authors are precisely the type of experts who should have input into curriculum standards. He accused the Texas Freedom Network of “manufacturing a controversy.”
“We think the [Texas] Board of Education should be applauded for choosing a diverse group of scientific reviewers,” he said. “Getting honest input from science experts with diverse views is imperative if we’re going to build a world-class educational system.”
Also joining the review panel is Charles Garner, a Baylor University chemistry professor who, along with Meyer and a Seelke, signed a Discovery Institute-sponsored declaration, “Scientific Dissent from Darwinism,” that says: “We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”
Veteran science professors from the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech University and Southern Methodist University round out the six-member panel. Two of them, David Hillis at UT Austin and Gerald Skoog at Texas Tech, have signed a “Scientists for a Responsible Curriculum in Texas Public Schools” statement that says “instruction on evolution is vital to understanding all the biological sciences” and “students are best served when matters of faith are left to families and houses of worship.”
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