Kansas evolution battle spreads to Kentucky, New Mexico schools

Church & State, Nov 1999

Conflict over the teaching of evolution seems to spreading from Kansas to other states, with disputes erupting recently in Kentucky and New Mexico.

Officials in the Kentucky Education Department quietly dropped the word "evolution" from state science standards and replaced it with "change over time ," a modification they insisted will not affect science education in the state.

State educators made the alteration at the last minute last month as they were giving the guidelines one final edit for grammar and spelling, reported the Louisville Courier-Journal. Associate Education Commissioner Linda Hough'ton told the newspaper the excision was made because use of the word evolution ran afoul of state guidelines that require schools to be sensitive when dealing with controversial topics like death, divorce and animal rights.

Deputy Commissioner Gene Wilhoit remarked, 'The word is a lightning rod that creates a diversion from what we're teaching, and we did not want to advocate a particular doctrine or a specific view."

The education officials insisted that the change was merely semantic and that evolution would continue to be taught in Kentucky schools. But some science teachers in the state were not so sure. "A lot of teachers are upset about this:' said Ken Rosenbaum, director of the Kentucky Science Teachers Association. "They know it was done for political reasons. It's either a scientific theory or it's not. Why don't we just stop calling the sunrise the sunrise?"

Nellie Shelton, a biology teacher at Danville High School, said evolution is not taught in many Kentucky public schools. "A lot of biology teachers don't touch evolution," she said. "It would have been a major step forward to leave it in. " The Courier-Journal surveyed biology teachers and textbooks in the state and found that evolution receives scant coverage in many communities.

The Kentucky Science Teachers Association had recommended that the word "evolution" remain in the guidelines and expected it to be in the final product. However, state officials replaced it with the phrase "change over time" in six places.

State Education Commissioner Wilmer Cody said he backed the new language. "I didn't consider it a substantive matter," Cody said. "The teaching of evolution has been in our academic core content, and it still is. Our recommendation to teachers is that they should cover those concepts."

But Russell County middle school science teacher Susan Nichols said the change would have a chilling effect. "The basic philosophy we had was, if you're going to teach about evolution, why can't you use the word?" she said. "I think the state is just trying to tippytoe around the issue:'

In other news about creationism and evolution in public schools:

0 The New Mexico Board of Education has voted overwhelmingly to keep evolution in its science standards. The board voted 14-1 Oct. 8 to limit the statewide science curriculum to evolution. Previous policy had required science teachers to give equal weight to "alternative theories," which some board members charged opened the door to creationism.

"This gives teachers the political cover they need to teach evolution:' said Marshall Berman, the board member who led the campaign for the change.

Explaining the vote in a letter to the Albuquerque Joumal, Board of Education President Flora Sanchez wrote, "We believe it is essential for our children to learn the widely accepted theories and concepts of science to prepare them for possible scientific, engineering, teaching and medical careers. Even more importantly, this knowledge of science and the scientific method is vital for creating well informed citizens capable of critical thinking and making the appropriate personal, family, community and political decisions required in the 21st century."

The Kansas Board of Education continues to feel the fallout from its recent decision to remove evolution from the state's science standards. Most recently, three national science groups have refused to allow the board to use copyrighted materials because of its stance. The National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science told the board it may not use their materials since the new guidelines don't reflect the organizations' goals of promoting good science. On Oct. 12 the board directed the state commissioner of education to rewrite the science guidelines without the copyrighted material.

Members of the Big Bone Baptist Church in Union, Ky., descended on Ryle High School Sept. 10 and distributed a creationist tome titled Refuting Evolution. More than a dozen members of the church manned three driveways leading into the school at the end of the school day. School officials later complained that group was on school property without permission and should not have been there. Church members said they did not realize the driveways were considered school property.