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February 14, 2005

Kansas Board of Education Going Nuts Again

Apparently, several news organizations are demanding answers from Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline about meetings he held with several Board of Education members that either violate the Open Meetings laws or were designed to narrowly avoid having to follow them.

I have to say, though, I'm less concerned about the possible violation of the Open Meetings laws (though that IS a serious issue) than I am about what was being discussed. According to KMBZ news:

Kline, a Republican, met Tuesday with the six Republicans who form a conservative majority on the 10-member board. He has said he discussed education funding in two separate meetings, each with three board members. Kline also has said that in the meetings, he offered to defend putting stickers in science textbooks saying evolution is a theory, not a fact, should the board consider such a policy.

As you may remember, a few years back, Kansas decided to make it easier for teachers to avoid teaching students about evolution by removing it from the tests students must pass before they can graduate (and most teachers "teach to the test".) That was embarassing enough that in the next election, most of the conservatives who had made that decision were voted off the board.

Well, the conservatives have regained controll, and now, with the assistance of the Attorney General of the state, they're trying to get stickers put on books to warn kids that they don't have to believe in the theory of evolution.

The problem, of course, is that a great deal of what we learn in science classes is based on theories. Anything that cannot be directly observed or conclusively proven is a theory - and that covers a lot of ground.

Much of what we claim to "know" about astronomy, physics, anthropology, psychology, genetics, sociology, chemistry, biology and so on is made of up of theories. Generally, there's a fair amount of evidence to back up the most strongly held theories, but they still can't be said to have been conclusively proven.

As such, pointing out with a disclaimer that the theory of evolution is, well, just a theory makes very little sense. Wouldn't it be a better use of time and effort to actually teach students a general understanding of theories as a whole? To help them better understand the scientific process? Rather than trying to give them a dogmatic-based "warning" about one theory in particular, teaching them how science works and why some theories are treated almost as fact even if they're not proven would give the students a better ability to judges all theories for themselves and decide if they truly feel there is enough evidence to accept a theory as fact, or if they should still keep and open mind to the possiblity that there may be a better explaination or answer for that particular issue. I would think that would help students develop crucial critical-thinking skills which we all need if we're going to survive in this culture.

Posted by thorswitch at February 14, 2005 08:28 PM

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