Posted on 12/11/2002 6:28:08 AM PST by A2J
By WILL SENTELL
wsentell@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau
High school biology textbooks would include a disclaimer that evolution is only a theory under a change approved Tuesday by a committee of the state's top school board.
If the disclaimer wins final approval, it would apparently make Louisiana just the second state in the nation with such a provision. The other is Alabama, which is the model for the disclaimer backers want in Louisiana.
Alabama approved its policy six or seven years ago after extensive controversy that included questions over the religious overtones of the issue.
The change approved Tuesday requires Louisiana education officials to check on details for getting publishers to add the disclaimer to biology textbooks.
It won approval in the board's Student and School Standards/ Instruction Committee after a sometimes contentious session.
"I don't believe I evolved from some primate," said Jim Stafford, a board member from Monroe. Stafford said evolution should be offered as a theory, not fact.
Whether the proposal will win approval by the full state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday is unclear.
Paul Pastorek of New Orleans, president of the board, said he will oppose the addition.
"I am not prepared to go back to the Dark Ages," Pastorek said.
"I don't think state boards should dictate editorial content of school textbooks," he said. "We shouldn't be involved with that."
Donna Contois of Metairie, chairwoman of the committee that approved the change, said afterward she could not say whether it will win approval by the full board.
The disclaimer under consideration says the theory of evolution "still leaves many unanswered questions about the origin of life.
"Study hard and keep an open mind," it says. "Someday you may contribute to the theories of how living things appeared on earth."
Backers say the addition would be inserted in the front of biology textbooks used by students in grades 9-12, possibly next fall.
The issue surfaced when a committee of the board prepared to approve dozens of textbooks used by both public and nonpublic schools. The list was recommended by a separate panel that reviews textbooks every seven years.
A handful of citizens, one armed with a copy of Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species," complained that biology textbooks used now are one-sided in promoting evolution uncritically and are riddled with factual errors.
"If we give them all the facts to make up their mind, we have educated them," Darrell White of Baton Rouge said of students. "Otherwise we have indoctrinated them."
Darwin wrote that individuals with certain characteristics enjoy an edge over their peers and life forms developed gradually millions of years ago.
Backers bristled at suggestions that they favor the teaching of creationism, which says that life began about 6,000 years ago in a process described in the Bible's Book of Genesis.
White said he is the father of seven children, including a 10th-grader at a public high school in Baton Rouge.
He said he reviewed 21 science textbooks for use by middle and high school students. White called Darwin's book "racist and sexist" and said students are entitled to know more about controversy that swirls around the theory.
"If nothing else, put a disclaimer in the front of the textbooks," White said.
John Oller Jr., a professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, also criticized the accuracy of science textbooks under review. Oller said he was appearing on behalf of the Louisiana Family Forum, a Christian lobbying group.
Oller said the state should force publishers to offer alternatives, correct mistakes in textbooks and fill in gaps in science teachings. "We are talking about major falsehoods that should be addressed," he said.
Linda Johnson of Plaquemine, a member of the board, said she supports the change. Johnson said the new message of evolution "will encourage students to go after the facts."
Heavy Sigh....Hebrew thinking about life never was so messed..even after 4000 + years.
Enlightenment began long ago...the Hebrews never claimed to own it....just spent a whole lotta time writting down the learned relationship.
another group has come allong.....hijacked the entire ride....then turned around and became arrogant in pride.
Already disproven on this thread (post 2243) by the communal relationship practiced by the Apostles and other believers of the early Christian church.
And in this manner, modern Christians attempt to show the love of Christ and win converts.
In fact it did...or haven't you kept up on recent events?
Yes, it was...and the early followers practiced communism. They held every asset jointly, which were then administered according to need.
Ho-hum. Nitey-nite, f.Christian. Here's hoping you dream of Darwinian finches tonight.
You know, you sound a lot like LBB, except that you post in normal colors...
If I'd had my druthers, you'd have been banned instead. You see, we actually had heated, but civil, crevo threads until you came along with your "liars" and "slime" in every little rant you posted. The civility factor dropped considerably after that (I'm the keeper of the past crevo threads, I can see the change). Don't worry, though. Even if you are banned your alter-ego, webber, will continue posting the same stuff, just in a different color.
Wrong. Science can still not explain gravity, child. It's not semantics, it's a fact. You see the effects of gravity, but you can't see the force. No one knows why gravity does what it does (or why it's so damned weak compared with the other fundamental forces). There are several theories of gravity, including Einstein's bending of space time, and one involving unobserved particles (gravitons).
We see organisms change in the wild and in the laboratory (organism resistance to chemicals, for instance). We see patterns of change in the fossil record (note VR's photographs of hominid skulls). We know it happens. We have theories to explain why. The fact that, after several hundred posts, you've been unable to understand what anyone here has been trying to tell you concerning this does not speak well of your intellectual capabilities. Or if you do see it you are playing dumb (the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil ploy). This is also a indication of poor cognitive abilities.
I swear, sometimes posting to you is like talking to a petulant 10-year-old who thinks he knows everything.
Are you showing your ignorance again or your dishonesty?
Dear God, you really don't know anything about gravity, do you? The larger mass is not stationary; it is actually attracted to the lesser mass in the same way the lesser mass is attracted to the greater (yes, the Earth is attracted to you). The Moon doesn't orbit around the Earth -- both bodies orbit around a common center. This is what makes solving three+ body problems so difficult.
If you keep up in this vein, PH will have another trophy line to add to his placemarker (BTW, do you still think chimps have tails?).
I know of two or three, maybe more. They post actively in these threads all the time, and their epistemology is virtually identical to those Muslims in that article. Anyway, I found the parallel striking. No big deal.
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