Split Outcome in Texas Battle on Teaching of Evolution

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/education/24texas.html?ref=us

Split Outcome in Texas Battle on Teaching of Evolution

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: January 23, 2009

AUSTIN, Tex. — Moderates on the Texas Board of Education prevailed over conservatives Friday when, in a battle over the teaching of evolution, the board voted to drop a 20-year-old mandate that science teachers explore with their students the “strengths and weaknesses” of all theories.


In Texas, a Line in the Curriculum Revives Evolution Debate (January 22, 2009) Still, the conservative faction, led by the board’s chairman, Dr. Don McLeroy, managed to pass several amendments to the state’s science curriculum that opponents say would open the door to teaching objections to evolution and might encourage students to reject it.

Chief among these amendments is one that would compel science teachers to instruct students about aspects of the fossil record that do not neatly fit with the idea of species’ gradually changing over time, like the relatively sudden appearance of some species and the fact that others seem to remain unchanged for millions of years.