Posted on 07/09/2003 12:08:32 PM PDT by PatrickHenry
FORT WORTH, Texas - (KRT) -
The long-running debate over the origins of mankind continues Wednesday before the Texas State Board of Education, and the result could change the way science is taught here and across the nation.
Local and out-of-state lobbying groups will try to convince the board that the next generation of biology books should contain new scientific evidence that reportedly pokes holes in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Many of those groups say that they are not pushing to place a divine creator back into science books, but to show that Darwin's theory is far from a perfect explanation of the origin of mankind.
"It has become a battle ground," said Eugenie Scott, executive director of theNational Center of Science Education, which is dedicated to defending the teaching of evolution in the classroom.
Almost 45 scientists, educators and special interest groups from across the state will testify at the state's first public hearing this year on the next generation of textbooks for the courses of biology, family and career studies and English as a Second Language.
Approved textbooks will be available for classrooms for the 2004-05 school year. And because Texas is the second largest textbook buyer in the nation, the outcome could affect education nationwide.
The Texas Freedom Network and a handful of educators held a conference call last week to warn that conservative Christians and special interest organizations will try to twist textbook content to further their own views.
"We are seeing the wave of the future of religious right's attack on basic scientific principles," said Samantha Smoot, executive director of the network, an anti-censorship group and opponent of the radical right.
Those named by the network disagree with the claim, including the Discovery Institute and its Science and Culture Center of Seattle.
"Instead of wasting time looking at motivations, we wish people would look at the facts," said John West, associate director of the center.
"Our goal nationally is to encourage schools and educators to include more about evolution, including controversies about various parts of Darwinian theory that exists between even evolutionary scientists," West said. "We are a secular think tank."
The institute also is perhaps the nation's leading proponent of intelligent design - the idea that life is too complex to have occurred without the help of an unknown, intelligent being.
It pushed this view through grants to teachers and scientists, including Michael J. Behe, professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. The Institute receives millions of dollars from philanthropists and foundations dedicated to discrediting Darwin's theory.
The center sent the state board a 55-page report that graded 11 high school biology textbooks submitted for adoption. None earned a grade above a C minus. The report also includes four arguments it says show that evolutionary theory is not as solid as presented in biology textbooks.
Discovery Institute Fellow Raymond Bohlin, who also is executive director of Probe Ministries, based in Richardson, Texas, will deliver that message in person Wednesday before the State Board of Education. Bohlin has a doctorate degree in molecular cell biology from the University of Texas at Dallas.
"If we can simply allow students to see that evolution is not an established fact, that leaves freedom for students to pursue other ideas," Bohlin said. "All I can do is continue to point these things out and hopefully get a group that hears and sees relevant data and insist on some changes."
The executive director of Texas Citizens for Science, Steven Schafersman, calls the institute's information "pseudoscience nonsense." Schafersman is an evolutionary scientist who, for more than two decades, taught biology, geology, paleontology and environmental science at a number of universities, including the University of Houston and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.
"It sounds plausible to people who are not scientifically informed," Schafersman said. "But they are fraudulently trying to deceive board members. They might succeed, but it will be over the public protests of scientists."
The last time Texas looked at biology books, in 1997, the State Board of Education considered replacing them all with new ones that did not mention evolution. The board voted down the proposal by a slim margin.
The state requires that evolution be in textbooks. But arguments against evolution have been successful over the last decade in other states. Alabama, New Mexico and Nebraska made changes that, to varying degrees, challenge the pre-eminence of evolution in the scientific curriculum.
In 1999, the Kansas Board of Education voted to wash the concepts of evolution from the state's science curricula. A new state board has since put evolution back in. Last year, the Cobb County school board in Georgia voted to include creationism in science classes.
Texas education requirements demand that textbooks include arguments for and against evolution, said Neal Frey, an analyst working with perhaps Texas' most famous textbook reviewers, Mel and Norma Gabler.
The Gablers, of Longview, have been reviewing Texas textbooks for almost four decades. They describe themselves as conservative Christians. Some of their priorities include making sure textbooks include scientific flaws in arguments for evolution.
"None of the texts truly conform to the state's requirements that the strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories be presented to students," Frey said.
The Texas textbook proclamation of 2001, which is part of the standard for the state's curriculum, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, requires that biology textbooks instruct students so they may "analyze, review and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weakness using scientific evidence and information."
The state board is empowered to reject books only for factual errors or for not meeting the state's curriculum requirements. If speakers convince the state board that their evidence is scientifically sound, members may see little choice but to demand its presence in schoolbooks.
Proposed books already have been reviewed and approved by Texas Tech University. After a public hearing Wednesday and another Sept. 10, the state board is scheduled to adopt the new textbooks in November.
Satisfying the state board is only half the battle for textbook publishers. Individual school districts choose which books to use and are reimbursed by the state unless they buy texts rejected by the state board.
Districts can opt not to use books with passages they find objectionable. So when speakers at the public hearings criticize what they perceived as flaws in various books - such as failing to portray the United States or Christianity in a positive light - many publishers listen.
New books will be distributed next summer.
State Board member Terri Leo said the Discovery Institute works with esteemed scientists and that their evidence should be heard.
"You cannot teach students how to think if you don't present both sides of a scientific issue," Leo said. "Wouldn't you think that the body that has the responsibility of what's in the classroom would look at all scientific arguments?"
State board member Bob Craig said he had heard of the Intelligent Design theory.
"I'm going in with an open mind about everybody's presentation," Craig said. "I need to hear their presentation before I make any decisions or comments.
State board member Mary Helen Berlanga said she wanted to hear from local scientists.
"If we are going to discuss scientific information in the textbooks, the discussion will have to remain scientific," Berlanga said. "I'd like to hear from some of our scientists in the field on the subject."
Polaris...last star in the little dipper...last time I checked, and every prediction that I've seen says the relationship within that group of stars is ordered, as in "ordered universe".
Second, atheism is not a religion. It's the abscence of theism, nothing more and nothing less.
This may be beside the point of your reply (and the entire thread), but the real way that a school enforces a particular worldview is by the values it implies. Government-run schools, for example, do not teach any sort of 'higher meaning' to human existence and end up impressing upon the minds of students that the goal of life is external success - in other words, materialism. At the same time, with no demonstration of a basis for their authority beyond mere force, the 'value' of 'might makes right' is also implied.
So, by implying a particular value system (and discrediting others by implying that they're unworthy of consideration), students end up searching for a worldview to accomodate the the value system they've spent thirteen years learning.
Is this another "Darwin wasn't a scientist" lie by gore? Goodseed tried that one and forced me to post Darwin's bibliography. "Origin" represents about five percent of his published output -- much of which is still standard reference material. But is true, "Origin" was not written as a description of research. It was written to explain a new hypothesis.
Sedimentary rocks - rocks formed from the deposition, compaction, and/or cementation of mineral and rock particles, often including organic material. They may be classified as terrigenous (derived from pre-existing rock), organic (produced directly or indirectly by organic processes), chemical (produced by precipitation from water), or volcanogenic (such as pyroclasts).
Sedimentary cycle - a process which involves the weathering of existing rock and erosion of minerals, followed by transportation and deposition, then burial. First-cycle sediments are characterized by more angular grains and less resistant minerals and rock particles. If this material is reworked in subsequent cycles, the more mature the rock becomes and is dominated by well-rounded, more resistant minerals.
Brief Description of Sediment Deposition
Continuing research into areas of active sedimentation (including rivers, deltaic environments, and oceans) indicate that the formation of sedimentary rocks is governed by four general processes:
During these processes, eroded sediments are sorted according to size and composition by the actions of the transporting mechanism (such as wind or water). This is called sediment differentiation.
Rivers - generally have an erosive region at the headwaters and a depositional region at base level, however, erosion and deposition can and do occur along the length of the river in river channels, river bars, and flood plains. Sediments are deposited wherever the forces of stream turbulence, viscosity and bouyancy that keep particles suspended in the water are over come by gravity (low-flow regimes).
Lakes - frequently, rivers and streams empty into lakes, bringing their load of suspended sediments with them. In these lower flow environments, suspended load is deposited, often as varved silt or clay. Additionally, organic-rich peat bogs and swamps may be present, contributing large amounts of organics to trapped sediments. In some regions, (most notably in arid climates) evaporite deposits may form from precipitated salts.
Deserts - infrequent, torrential rainfall leads to a tremendous amount of erosion and sediment transportation. Often, the turbulence of these events are reflected in the very poorly-sorted and bedded nature of such deposits. Wind is another great factor in erosion and sediment deposition in these areas. Sand-sized particles are usually deposited wherever surface irregularities exist, but the finest of grains are typically transported over great distances, some ending up as loess or deep ocean deposits.
Non-Fluvial Glacial Environments - glacial till (rock debris scoured by the glacier) accumulates at the snout and base of the glacier, to be either deposited in situ during periods of recession, or over-ridden to form ground moraines. Often, these sediments are further reworked by streams and lakes associated with the recession of the glacier.
Deltas - are formed where high-flow rivers and streams encounter low-flow standing water (such as marine shorelines). The rapid deposition of large amounts of suspended river sediments results in frequent river channel divergence.
Beaches - a high-energy environment where ocean sediments are frequently deposited due to wave action. These sediments are typically well-sorted sands and silts with some organics.
Carbonate Sediments - shallow marine environments where organisms form shells made of CaCO3, or by inorganic chemical precipitation of CaCO3.
Deep Marine Sediments - fine dusts eroded from the great deserts of the world and transported by wind are deposited as red/brown clays in a region near 30-degrees North and South latitude. Carbonate oozes are generally found near the equator, while siliceous oozes predominate in more northerly and southerly latitudes according to the environmental requirements of associated micro-organisms.
Listed here are some additional websites with more complete information:
Aside form the obvious fact that Polaris is not always the North Star, and that for much of time there is no North Star, do you believe that the apparent arrangement of the stars is any more ordered than the shape of clouds?
You mean that wasn't it?
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