Texas Board of Education votes on, and leaves, evolution in.

[Tahlan]

Dallas Morning News link

AUSTIN – Social conservatives lost another skirmish over evolution Friday when the State Board of Education stripped two provisions from proposed science standards that would have raised questions about key principles of the theory of evolution.

In identical 8-7 votes, board members removed two sections written by Chairman Don McLeroy that would have required students in high school biology classes to study the "sufficiency or insufficiency" of common ancestry and natural selection of species. Both are key principles of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

Five Democrats and three Republicans joined to narrowly outvote the seven Republicans on the board aligned with social conservative groups.

The science standards were ultimately adopted 13-2, setting the state's curriculum in the subject for the next decade. The standards will determine what students are taught in class and what must be covered in science textbooks.

Afterward, a disappointed McLeroy, R-College Station, called the board's decisions a blow to science education in Texas.

"Science loses. Texas loses, and the kids lose because of this," he said. Earlier, McLeroy, a creationist, argued that many aspects of Darwin's theory are not supported by fossil records – though he pointed out he favors the teaching evolution in the public schools.

Board member Geraldine Miller, R-Dallas, was among those who voted to delete the two provisions. She said the proposals conflicted with other requirements on evolution in the curriculum standards for science.

"It doesn't make any sense to have these in our standards," she said, pointing out that students in science classes will still be able to examine all aspects of Darwin's theory – including those questioned by evolution critics.

Groups representing science teachers and academics had urged the board to dump McLeroy's proposals on common ancestry and natural selection of species, contending they would be used to undermine teaching of evolution.

Those groups also questioned board decisions Friday to adopt compromise language in other areas – on the study of fossil records and the complexity of cells. Those compromises were supported by McLeroy and most other board members.

The Texas Freedom Network, which has battled social conservative groups on education issues, warned that the compromise language could still be used to water down coverage of evolution in textbooks.

"This document still has plenty of potential footholds for creationist attacks on evolution to make their way into Texas classrooms," said the group's president, Kathy Miller, who predicted heated battles over the content of biology textbooks in two years.

McLeroy promised as much on Friday, saying that publishers heard the debate and know that "they'll have to get their textbooks approved by us in a few years."

He also said he was pleased with compromise language adopted by the board on a 13-2 vote that says students will examine "all sides of scientific evidence" of theories, including evolution.

Friday's votes came a day after social conservatives lost one of their key objectives in the debate over evolution – to require that science teachers and textbooks cover the "weaknesses" of Charles Darwin's theory as well as its strengths. That proposal failed on a 7-7 vote.

McLeroy's proposals did not pass. Evolution is still the theory taught in Texas' schools. Texas got it right after all, in spite of all those who said otherwise. (See related SD.Net thread.)

[Tahlan]

Ghetto edit:

Texas Board of Education resists conservatives' changes to the teaching of evolution in Texas public schools.

should have been the title to this thread. My bad.

[Alyrium Denryle]

McLeroy's proposals did not pass. Evolution is still the theory taught in Texas' schools. Texas got it right after all, in spite of all those who said otherwise. (See related SD.Net thread.)

That we had to fight this hard at all makes your statement false.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

McLeroy's proposals did not pass. Evolution is still the theory taught in Texas' schools. Texas got it right after all, in spite of all those who said otherwise. (See related SD.Net thread.)

Texas still got it wrong. They just got it much less wrong than they could've. After all, the asinine proposals failed by one vote, and a fucking tie. Both proposals should've gone down in fucking flames. As it is, all they have to do is try again and get just two people to either change their minds, or get replaced by Creationist cretins or mindless-middle imbeciles.

[Darth Wong]

A pair of 8-7 votes are hardly vindication for Texas. Can you imagine if they narrowly won an 8-7 vote to accept that the Earth is not flat?

[Tahlan]

Hey, I admit it's a close call on a couple points. It's not an overwhelming victory, but neither is it close to anything like a flaming defeat. The outcome, and it is the outcome that ultimately counts, the outcome is that for the next ten years teaching evolution in public schools stays firmly entrenched. And many of the posts from the other thread had Texas off in la la land and condemned an entire state because of one Board of Education member's proposals. The outcome supports my contention that Texans, as a state overall, are not as insane as they were accused of being in the thread. That's all.

[bobalot]

The outcome supports my contention that Texans, as a state overall, are not as insane as they were accused of being in the thread. That's all.

Mate, What are you talking about? This is the type of stuff we expect from shithole in regional Pakistan, not a first world country. To even be having this debate is fucking ridiculous. The fact that evolution won by a narrow margin is a joke. If most of the people of Texas weren't insane, creationists wouldn't have such depth of support and political backing.

They will be back and everybody knows it. Nothing has been entrenched for the long term.

On a faintly related note....
23% of Texans believe Obama is a Muslim (Source)
What is the rate of mental retardation in Texas? I would hazard a guess at 23%.

[Lagmonster]

A pair of 8-7 votes are hardly vindication for Texas. Can you imagine if they narrowly won an 8-7 vote to accept that the Earth is not flat?

It's worse than that. Later in the article, we read:

He (McLeroy) also said he was pleased with compromise language adopted by the board on a 13-2 vote that says students will examine "all sides of scientific evidence" of theories, including evolution.

Tahlan is obviously so concerned with defending the honour of Texas that he didn't even finish reading his own article: 13 - 2 in favour of what amounts to an easy way in for a 'teach the controversy' approach down the road. The creationists in Texas didn't win the battle, but they're positioning to win the war.

[Surlethe]

Here is the Wall Street Journal article from last Saturday; it corroborates Lagmonster's concerns:

The Texas Board of Education approved a science curriculum that opens the door for teachers and textbooks to raise doubts about evolution.

Critics of evolution said they were thrilled with Friday's move. "Texas has sent a clear message that evolution should be taught as a scientific theory open to critical scrutiny, not as a sacred dogma that can't be questioned," said Dr. John West, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a Seattle think tank that argues an intelligent designer created life.

Kathy Miller, president of the pro-evolution Texas Freedom Network, said, "The board crafted a road map that creationists will use to pressure publishers into putting phony arguments attacking established science into textbooks."

Science standards in Texas resonate across the U.S., since it approves one set of books for the entire state. That makes Texas the nation's single largest market for high-school textbooks.

In the past, publishers often have written texts to its curriculum and marketed them nationally rather than spend time and money reworking them for different states and districts.

That influence has diminished, said Jay Diskey, executive director of the Association of American Publishers' school division, as districts and statewide boards of education have become more likely to scrutinize texts approved in other states. Desktop publishing also has made it easier for companies to amend textbooks to suit different markets.

"It's not necessarily the case" that the Texas curriculum will pop up in other states, Mr. Diskey said. But within Texas, what the board says, goes. Several years ago, the board expressed concern that a description of the Ice Age occurring "millions of years ago" conflicted with biblical timelines. The publisher changed it to "in the distant past." Another publisher sought to satisfy the board by inserting a heading about "strengths and weaknesses of evolution" in a biology text, drawing condemnation from science organizations.

The board will use the new standards to choose new textbooks in 2011.

Friday's meeting started with a victory for backers of evolution. The board voted to remove a longstanding requirement that students analyze the "strengths and weaknesses" of the theory. Mainstream scientists resoundingly reject that language, saying there are no weak links in the theory of evolution, which has been corroborated by discoveries in fields ranging from genetics to geology.

Through the afternoon, board members offered up a series of amendments and counter-amendments designed to shape presentations in biology classes across the state. The board voted down curriculum standards questioning the evolutionary principle that all life on Earth is descended from common ancestry.

Yet the board approved standards that require students to analyze and evaluate the fossil record and the complexity of the cell. Social conservatives on the board, led by chairman Don McLeroy, have made clear they expect books to address those topics by raising questions about the validity of evolutionary theory.

For instance, they want textbooks to suggest the theory of evolution is undercut by fossils that show some organisms -- such as ferns -- haven't changed much over millions of years. They also want texts to discuss the explosion of life forms during the Cambrian Era as inconsistent with the incremental march of evolution.

Scientists respond that the fossil record clearly traces the roots of Cambrian Era creatures back as far as 100 million years.

It isn't just evolution at issue: The board also approved an earth-science curriculum that challenges the widely accepted Big Bang Theory. Students are expected to learn that there are "differing theories" on the "origin and history of the universe."

Board members also deleted a reference to the scientific consensus that the universe is nearly 14 billion years old. The board's chairman has said he believes God created the universe fewer than 10,000 years ago.

And one-line comments about "Texas this" or "Texas that" like OsirisLord's will be split to Testing - again, like OsirisLord's - not because they pick on Texas, but because they are worthless spam posts that do not advance discussion.

[Patrick Degan]

McLeroy's proposals did not pass. Evolution is still the theory taught in Texas' schools. Texas got it right after all, in spite of all those who said otherwise. (See related SD.Net thread.)

Sorry, but as has been pointed out, the very fact that this fight had to take place at all shows that Texas isn't anywhere near to "getting it right". The Fundies will be back for the next round next decade, and the decade after that, and the decade after that. And the fight will go on to keep the integrity of a scientific education in Texas from being corrupted.

[Tolya]

A pair of 8-7 votes are hardly vindication for Texas. Can you imagine if they narrowly won an 8-7 vote to accept that the Earth is not flat?

It still scares the shit out of me. Those are the people who are supposed to be guardians of high standards of education in Texas.

[HamsterViking]

Jeez, what's with all the Texas bashing? Education is a serious problem here. The overly religious, wealthy, conservative, white minority controls education in Texas, and the majority of Texans suffer for it. I have been through the Texas public education sytem from kindergarten to my senior year of highschool, and I can tell you that most of the educators are rational people, even the very Christian ones. I have never had or known a Texan science teacher or administrator who did anything to oppose evolution in school. I even had one teacher give us an assignment to research "intelligent design" and the meaning of the word theory, and write a paper on why it is not a scientific theory. It is still a sad fact that we're having bullshit shoved down our throats anyway.

I'm really worried about the state of education arund here, especially since we're getting so many new Mexican immigrants (both legal and illegal) who are being refused a decent education - along with anyone else who's living in the same county. Hell, here in San Antonio I can tell you that the Northside school district which I grew up with recieves way more funding than, say, the San Antonio school district that my step-son is gowing up with. Keep in mind that the north side is where all the more affluant (and more white) neighborhoods are, where the SAISD covers the center of town where some of the poorer (and more Mexican) neighborhoods are. We need serious education reform here to remove the influences of the loud minority and ensure that the quality of education recieved has nothing to do with race and economic status, or we'll be in deep shit very soon.

Sorry about the rant, but this is something very important to me.