Florida Citizens for Science

The Dixie County Advocate’s website is painful to navigate. But if you have the patience, you can venture to the Dec. 20 issue and see a column on page 12 written by Dixie County School Superintendent, Dennis Bennett.

The State is in the process of developing and approving changes to its science standards to follow Darwin’s theory of evolution. The standards that are approved by the State Board of Education would be taught in every grade level and tested in the eleventh and twelfth grades.

Darwin’s theory of evolution has been discussed in our school science classes for a long time as one theory of how organisms have developed over time. But the concern now is that the state is developing an “evolution exclusive” curriculum. Because we live in democracy, our schools have always been able to present differing ideas, concepts, and theories to generate open minded discussions to gather a wide scope of information.

Donna Callaway, a member of the State Board of Education sparked a fury of debate recently with her comments to a newspaper. She told the newspaper that evolution should be taught but not “to the exclusion of other theories of the origins of life.”

Many scientists agree that the theory of evolution has so many unanswered unproven questions that it can’t be proven. Many scientists say that Intelligent Design, another concept has merit and warrants discussion because organisms can’t develop unless they have all components for life in place and in order. There is intelligence in the design of all organisms. If you take any part of the design out, the organism does not develop.

Parents from Jacksonville recently traveled 200 miles to meet with the State Board, but were not allowed to speak. The State Board also declined to address the evolution education issue at that meeting.

What our district wants the public to know is once the State Board of Education sets the standards to be taught, schools will be expected to teach them. We know that many citizens are very concerned about this issue. The State Board of Education should hear from these concerns before they decide the science curriculum for the entire state. If you are concerned about the “evolution exclusive” curriculum being taught in our schools, you may contact the Florida Commissioner of Education at Commissioner@fldoe.org or (850)245-0605 or the State Board of Education Chairman, Willard Fair at (305)696-4450. For additional State Board of Education contact information, the website address is http://www.fldoe.org/board/.

The Dixie County School District website isn’t too advanced either. School board agendas and meeting minutes are not available there. Does anyone have some time to contact the school district to find out if they have acted on any of their superintendent’s beliefs concerning evolution?

For a comprehensive look at what counties and education decision makers are up to concerning evolution in the state science standards, see our “Those not in favor of good science education, raise your hand” post.

New Florida K-12 chancellor Frances Haithcock was interviewed by the St. Petersburg Times education blog The Gradebook. In the course of that interview, Haithcock was hit with the dreaded evolution question.

I do have to ask you about the exciting debate over evolution and where you stand on that one, if you want to plunge in there.

Well. Uh. (pause) I just talked to our science person the other day … to try to get an update on where we were. … They are compiling the information that came in. So I really want to look at that first before I make any definitive statement about it one way or the other.

I am interested in whether you have taken any position. Your predecessor had taken some heat for her position on the issue of evolution and intelligent design and so forth. What do you think belongs in the curriculum?

Well. No. 1, I really want to review the input before I take a position. But No. 2, I am more than excited that they took on these science standards to begin with. Because of all of the positive things that came out of Florida, one of the big negative things was the grade of the science standards. It’s unacceptable for a state to have that. There’s been a whole lot of hard work done on that. I did some reading on all of this before I came here as far as who comprised the committees and how much public input they were getting. I think they’ve done a really good job with that.

As I understand it, from the initial review from a number of different outside sources, they feel like these standards are almost 100 percent improved from what they were. So there’s just so much more to the standards than just the one word, the “e word.” Before I really come out with any type of statement on that, I am going to review what is said by the people in Florida. And as I said, that is being compiled right now, so it won’t be a long period of time before we address that. And of course the science standards are going to the State Board on February the 19th. And there will be a vote by the board at that time that will tell everybody the answer on where they are with it….

First of all, when asked to take a position, the correct answer is that there is only one position: science belongs in the science classroom. Supposed “other theories” that have absolutely no basis in science should not be in the science classroom. Period. However, it is unfortunately understandable that not everyone (actually, hardly anyone) is comfortable speaking about science. So, I have to give Haithcock some credit for saying she wants to do some research, but I have to mark her down for wanting to go to the public comments for that research. Go to the subject matter experts, Ms. Haithcock, those people who actually worked on the standards and those organizations that provided professional input.

This vendetta the anti-evolution crowd has against the new draft of the state science standards is not just a fight in the here and now. Their assault on science they quite frankly don’t understand could affect our future.

Mike Thomas, an Orlando Sentinel columnist, tells it like it is:

Science is a hot commodity in the world and national economy.

It’s why Florida is spending a fortune luring research centers like Burnham and Scripps. We need to produce employees these people will want to hire.

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These are people who don’t understand science, don’t understand how scientists work and don’t understand the use of the term “theory.” They also don’t see a problem trumping public education with their personal religious beliefs.

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I can tell you the outcome. Florida becomes a cable news freak show. The schools we’ve worked so hard to upgrade go back to joke status.

Luckily, the Department of Education staff is writing up its final version of the standards based only on scientifically valid input.

The Board of Education only needs the courage to approve it.

How do we lure the brilliant scientists we so desperately need with this marketing campaign: Put your 21st-century kids in our 19th-century schools? The danger of such a setback is real.

And from ScienceBlogs comes Thoughts from Kansas, which has a lesson for us from another state that is doing it right.

North Carolina has been building that educational pipeline for decades, and it’s paying off. That long term effort makes Kansas’s Bioscience Authority and similar one-off programs look like the stunts they are. And it is a cautionary tale to states like Florida and Texas, where science standards are currently under assault.

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This is the time for people of good will to get involved. As the example of North Carolina shows, decisions made now will affect the Florida economy for decades. A bad choice by the Board will put Florida in the media spotlight usually reserved for Kansas creationists, while a wise decision could give the Sunshine state a bright future.