NOVEMBER 09, 04:42 EST
Ala. Keeps Biology Textbook Warning
By PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press Writer
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) � There was plenty of debate when Alabama began
putting stickers in its students' biology textbooks warning that evolution
is a "controversial theory."
That was in 1996.
On Thursday, when the Alabama Board of Education voted to put the
disclaimer on the front of 40,000 new biology textbooks bound for public
school classrooms, there was no dissent.
The teaching of evolution, the theory that humans and other living beings
evolved into their present form over millions of years, has been debated by
school boards in several states. But no other state has used a disclaimer
sticker in textbooks statewide, said Eric Meikle, outreach director of the
National Center of Science Education.
In Alabama, the state Board of Education approves several biology
textbooks from different publishers, and the local public school boards
select which books will go into their schools, most often into 10th-grade
classrooms.
The stickers that will be added to those books say, in part, that
evolution is "a controversial theory. ... Instructional material associated
with controversy should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully,
and critically considered."
The board included the same statement in course guidelines for science
teachers.
The decision was actively supported by the Christian Coalition and the
Eagle Forum, groups that seek more religious activity in public schools.
John Giles, state president of the Christian Coalition, said the new
sticker is not as strong as the old one, but he had been concerned that the
board might drop the sticker entirely.
"The insert they approved does provoke the child to think through the
process," he said.
The earlier sticker contained questions students should ask about
evolution, such as: "Why do major groups of plants and animals have no
transitional forms in the fossil record?"
At a 1995 board meeting to approve the original disclaimer, then-Gov. Fob
James impersonated an ape to poke fun at evolutionary theory.
Other states where school boards have tried to de-emphasize evolutionary
concepts include Arizona, Kansas, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas and Nebraska.
Earlier this year, the Kansas Board of Education voted to restore the
teaching of evolution as a central theory in science classes there. The
move came 18 months after the board caused an uproar by voting to omit
references to many evolutionary concepts in the science curriculum. Gov.
Bill Graves had called the 1999 vote: "terrible, tragic, embarrassing."
In Oklahoma, the State Textbook Committee decided in 1999 to put a
disclaimer sticker similar to Alabama's in its textbooks, but the state
attorney general said the committee lacked the authority to do so.
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a Washington-based education
organization, last fall gave 19 states D's or F's in an evaluation of how
public schools teach evolution.
Copyright 2001 Associated
Press. All rights reserved.
-- Ronn! :)
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-- Ronn Blankenship
Instructor of Astronomy/Planetary Science
University of Montevallo
Montevallo, AL
Standard Disclaimer: Unless specifically stated
otherwise, any opinions stated herein are the personal
opinions of the author and do not represent the
official position of the University of Montevallo.
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