Monday, February 10, 2014

Evolution in Texas Texts

In December, the Texas Freedom Network (TFN) reported, “This year’s sweeping win for science education in Texas now appears to be complete.”

“.…a special expert panel has given unanimous approval to the Pearson biology textbook whose adoption by the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) last month had been tripped up by allegations that it contained ‘factual errors.’”

The textbook, named Biology, published by Pearson Education, is the most widely used biology text in the nation. Ide Trotter, a creationist, had objected to it because it presented evolution as scientific fact rather than as a theory in conflict with the Bible. It’s hard to understand why he slammed Biology, because the other textbooks also treated evolution as factual.

In November, SBOE approved all the other biology books, but it sent Biology to a panel of three experts to consider Trotter’s objection. SBOE picked the panelists. SBOE has several creationist members, including its chair. It had chosen many creationists for earlier review panels. However, it chose three respected biologists for this final examination.

No comments:

Post a Comment