Posted on 02/06/2006 6:42:23 AM PST by PatrickHenry
[Original article actually starts here.] The governor also said he should have asked his previous appointees to the State Board of Education more questions about their position on the controversial issue, and that he will be asking about it before making future appointments.
"There were cases in which I didn’t ask the right questions, in some cases where I supported someone
Gov. Bob Taft says that although he’s convinced the state’s 10 thgrade biology teaching standards do not include intelligent design, there should be a legal review of the companion lesson plan to ensure Ohio is not vulnerable to a lawsuit. for election or appointment," [sic] Taft said this week when asked about the issue during a meeting with Dispatch editors and reporters.
"I’ll be asking that question now, I can assure you."
Taft refused to elaborate afterward. But his comments could add fuel to the debate about Ohio’s biology standards, a debate that occupied an entire day at last month’s meeting of the State Board of Education.
Taft spokesman Mark Rickel said that before the governor leaves office early next year, he intends to make appointments for the four board slots coming open Dec. 31.
Those seats are now filled by Richard E. Baker, of Hollansburg; Stephen M. Millett, of Columbus; Jennifer L. Sheets, of Pomeroy; and Carl Wick, of Centerville. None returned messages yesterday seeking comment.
The governor appoints eight of the 19 board members. The terms of six elected members also expire at the end of this year.
Baker drew criticism for reading a newspaper during a presentation last month by board member Martha W. Wise, who wanted to remove portions of the state curriculum guidelines that critics say promote the teaching of intelligent design. That effort failed by a vote of 9-8.
Wise said yesterday she is pleased by the governor’s interest in the issue and that she still hopes to persuade a majority of her colleagues to support her effort.
"I’m so happy that he is taking a stand and that he will be probing more. I think it’s a tremendously important issue to the state of Ohio, not because of a lawsuit, but because it’s the right thing to do," she said.
Taft stressed that while he can tell members his opinion, he can’t tell them how to vote.
A federal judge in December ruled that a requirement by the school board in Dover, Pa., to teach intelligent design violated the First Amendment ban on government endorsement of religion.
Opponents of intelligent design say Ohio’s curriculum guidelines invite a legal challenge, in part because they are based on intelligent design literature.
Supporters, however, stress that there is no mention of intelligent design.
Kim Norris, a spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, said Petro has not received a request for a legal opinion from Taft. Wise requested such an opinion last month, but the attorney general declined because it did not come from the full board, Norris said.
Wise said it may be difficult to get an objective opinion on such a hot issue during an election year. Taft cannot seek another term. Petro has stressed his conservative credentials while running for governor.
"This is a political year and I would try to watch very carefully that any position the attorney general might take not be tainted by politics," Wise said.
The governor has said he supports the teaching of evolution in 10 th-grade biology class and also backs critical analysis of the theory as called for in state standards.
"But if there is an issue here where they are actually teaching intelligent design, that’s another matter, and that’s what the court said as well," Taft said.
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Is there an Editor in the house?
If Taft "got it", he'd resign immediately. His presence in the Governorship severely jeopardizes Ken Blackwell's ability to win the race to succeed him in November.
How misplaced can one's priorities be? If you actually had any clue about biology or religion for that matter, one might take you seriously.
But generally you come off as a puerile Peter Pan.
I suppose this is one way for creationists to avoid facing the fact that they're wrong. Just read the paper and ignore it. Are all of them that way?
Why would religion be an issue when it comes to high school biology?
i.d. is political death? for whom? do you think the republicans would have won one election in the last 25 years without Christian conservatives? WE ARE the republican base. any republican who thinks that they can win an election if we stay home is clueless. in fact, the only reason that jimmy carter won was because he duped so many Christian conservatives. clinton won because george bush, sr. ignored and took for granted this base.
evolution, i.d., biblical creationism and/or all other theories regarding the origen of man should be taught in a philosophy class. none of them is science and any attempt to prove otherwise just causes the advocate to look foolish. having said that, the past 2,000 years of human history do more to support the proposition that the Bible is true than to undermine it. the bottom line is - if there was no adam, there was no need for a jesus. if there was no adam, jesus was delusional in the same sense that all other so called messiahs were have been delusional. if there was no adam, saul of tarsus, who wrote most of the new testament, must have had a hallucination on the road to damascus as he was going there to arrest Christians. you can believe all of that if you want to but if you do, it's you're religion not your science that brings you to that conclusion.
A question biologists have been asking for 150 years.
one more thing - i live in ohio. taft doesn't get much of anything. this guy couldn't be elected to dog catcher if his name wasn't taft.
I may misunderstand your view. If so I apologize. But I think you raise a good point.
When a student graduates from HS, do they need to know how many moons orbit around Saturn? No. Is it worth having a nation-wide controversy over whether Saturn as 17 or 18 moons? No.
I would be thrilled if students graduated from HS knowing how to recognize types of trees, parts of a cell, Mendel's work with genes, and predator-prey cycles. All of that is biology. It's all useful to show that the world is structured.
Why is it structured? Well, now we get into areas that might be controversial. Why bother????
I think the controversy is raised because one side really wants to get the kids accepting a particular agenda at a young age. I think it's a shame. There's plenty of biology to learn without getting into origin of species.
College is different. But High School? These kids don't know who we fought in WWII! Exploring the big biological controversy just isn't worth it at that age.
You bring up some excellent points.
Exactly! Why is it an issue at all?
Because in a class on biology the student is supposed to learn what biologists think.
Without that basis they are not qualified to either go further in biology or criticize it.
When I took HS physics, we did charts of falling objects and explored wave action and other such low-level phenomenon. For most, it was plenty. Some students went on to college and eventually got that deeper understanding of "what physicists think".
Biology is the field where the Big Theory must come first. Then, all the data can be inserted into it's pre-ordained spot within the Big Theory.
High School kids need to understand biological phenomenon. No matter what your own agenda happens to be, if all HS students come realize that the world is stuctured and actually "makes sense" it will help a great deal, AND it won't step on any toes.
Well said -- you are the one who "gets it".
Are you a biologist? Is Taft?
I don't know what's happened to physics teaching, but in the 50's when I took it we did get into relativity and Einstein's famous equation.
Same for the early 80's when my kids took it.
Oh, and omitting evolution would be more like omitting basic mechanics in physics. Molecular biology and molecular evolution would be closer to relativity.
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