Kansas education board downplays evolution
State school board OKs standards casting doubt on Darwin
Kansas education board votes
Charlie Riedel / AP
Chairman Steve Abrams, left, votes to adopt new science standards while Education Commissioner Bob Corkins monitors the vote during a meeting of the Kansas Board of Education on Tuesday.


NBC VIDEO
New Kansas rules
Nov. 8: NBC's James Hattori reports on Kansas' move to cast doubt on the theory of evolution.

Nightly News
Human evolution at a crossroads
King rat and the brilliant squibbon
Evolving with our stomachs
Creationists take a new tack
Darwin vs. Einstein: A tale of 2 theories
FULL COVERAGE
Most popular
• Most viewed • Top rated • Most e-mailed
WHO raises pandemic alert to phase 4
You might be rich! Here's how to find out
Some Mexican ill say doctors turned them away
Low-flying planes cause New York City scare
Swine flu has airports, airlines scrambling
Most viewed on msnbc.com
Injured soldier gets new face — and anonymity
4th colonoscopy patient tests positive for HIV
'I didn't think I'd ever get out of that boat'
Spider silk-metal combo makes for tough tool
Sea shells used to clean up heavy metals
Most viewed on msnbc.com
Prostate cancer risk slashed with new drug
Taking the kids: Celebrate like a VIP
The first 100 days of the Obama economy
Swine flu has airports, airlines scrambling
Most viewed on msnbc.com
msnbc.com news services
updated 8:34 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2005

TOPEKA, Kan. - Risking the kind of nationwide ridicule it faced six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public-school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.

The 6-4 vote was a victory for “intelligent design” advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.

Critics of the new language charged that it was an attempt to inject God and creationism into public schools, in violation of the constitutional ban on state establishment of religion.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

All six of those who voted for the new standards were Republicans. Two Republicans and two Democrats voted no.

“This is a sad day. We’re becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that,” said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat.

Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, said the decision would encourage school districts in Kansas and elsewhere to make similar moves, distracting and confusing teachers and students.

“It will be marketed by the religious right ... as a huge victory for their side,” she said. “We can expect more efforts to get creationism in.”

Supporters see academic freedom
Supporters of the new standards said they would promote academic freedom.

“This is a great day for education. This is one of the best things that we can do,” said board chairman Steve Abrams. Another board member who voted in favor of the standards, John Bacon, said the move “gets rid of a lot of dogma that’s being taught in the classroom today.”

John Calvert, a retired attorney who helped found the Intelligent Design Network, said changes probably would come to classrooms gradually, with some teachers feeling freer to discuss criticisms of evolution. “These changes are not targeted at changing the hearts and minds of the Darwin fundamentalists,” Calvert said.

The Seattle-based Discovery Institute, which supports challenges to Darwinian evolutionary theory, praised the Kansas effort. “Students will learn more about evolution, not less as some Darwinists have falsely claimed,” institute spokesman Casey Luskin said in a written statement.

RELATED COVERAGE

* Dover voters oust intelligent design supporters
* Live Vote: How should evolution be taught?
* More on the Kansas evolution debate

Science redefined
The new standards say high school students must understand major evolutionary concepts. But they also declare that the basic Darwinian theory that all life had a common origin and that natural chemical processes created the building blocks of life have been challenged in recent years by fossil evidence and molecular biology.

In addition, the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.

The new standards will be used to develop student tests measuring how well schools teach science. Decisions about what is taught in classrooms will remain with 300 local school boards, but some educators fear pressure will increase in some communities to teach less about evolution or more about creationism or intelligent design.

The vote marked the third time in six years that the Kansas board has rewritten standards with evolution as the central issue.
CONTINUED : State has been here before
1 | 2 | Next >

* Discuss Story On Newsvine
* Rate Story:
View popularLow
Rate it 0.5
Rate it 1
Rate it 1.5
Rate it 2
Rate it 2.5
Rate it 3
Rate it 3.5
Rate it 4
Rate it 4.5
Rate it 5
High
4 after 1648 ratings
* Email
* Instant Message
* Print

MORE FROM SCIENCE


Science Section Front
The future of vaccination
Egypt unveils 4,000-year-old necropolis
Last pandas from quake-hit habitat relocated
Obama promises major investment in science
Red pandas go wild for artificial sweets
Spider silk-metal combo makes for tough tool
Oldest known Sumatran tiger dies at zoo
Cow genome unraveled to improve meat, milk
Ancient cattle species re-introduced to Britain
Microbe-powered 'fart' machine stores energy
Science Section Front

Add Science headlines to your news reader:

Add to MyMSNAdd to My Yahoo!Subscribe with Bloglines
• More RSS feeds from MSNBC.com
Top msnbc.com stories
Flu has airports, airlines scrambling
WHO raises pandemic alert level
Flu casts shadow over economy
100 days into the Obama economy
Iowa sees first gay marriages
NBC News highlights
Fiancée still stands by accused 'Craigslist Killer'
Answering your questions about swine flu
Air scare panics New Yorkers
Sanctuary rescues unwanted pets
Captain saw no escape from pirates
SPONSORED LINKS Get listed here