The Dover school district (PA) is making national (and probably international) news with the teaching of "intelligent design:"
Administrators in the Dover Area School District read a statement to three biology classes yesterday and were expected to read it to other classes today...The district is believed to be the only one in the nation to require students to hear about intelligent design — a concept that holds that the universe is so complex, it had to be created by an unspecified guiding force...
Biology teacher Jennifer Miller said although she was able to make a smooth transition to her evolution lesson after the statement was read, some students were upset that administrators would not entertain any questions about intelligent design.
"They were told that if you have any questions, to take it home," Miller said.
The district allowed students whose parents objected to the policy to be excused from hearing the statement at the beginning of class and science teachers who opposed the requirement to be exempted from reading the statement.
So, it's not an iron-clad requirement. And the lawsuits have begun. Some say that teaching evolution as fact is censoring debate. Others claim that requiring such a statement in schools is a violation of church and state.
Meanwhile, down in Georgia, a judge has ordered that stickers affixed to high school bio books that read, "Evolution is a theory, not a fact" be removed:
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the immediate removal of stickers placed in high school biology textbooks that call evolution "a theory, not a fact," saying they were an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The disclaimers were put in the books by school officials in suburban Cobb County in 2002...
School board members said in a written statement that they were disappointed by the ruling and were reviewing it to determine whether to appeal. A board spokesman said no decision had been made on when, or if, the stickers will be removed...Schools in the suburban district just north of Atlanta placed the stickers after more than 2,000 parents complained the textbooks presented evolution as fact, without mentioning rival ideas about the beginnings of life...
"Science and religion are related and they're not mutually exclusive," school district attorney Linwood Gunn had argued. "This sticker was an effort to get past that conflict and to teach good science."
The stickers read, "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
If you're really interested in the topic, don't stay here; go visit Evolution Blog and The Panda's Thumb, which are both chock-full of posts on the topic.
I'm not only not an expert in this area, I didn't even know pandas had thumbs.
Posted by kswygert at January 19, 2005 07:11 PM