This article in the St. Petersburg Times does what every good article should do: talk to the experts. The real experts. This gives such writing proper balance without resorting to the “equal balance” fallacy. The paper commissioned their own reviewer to render an opinion about the new draft of the science standards with good results.
Two years ago, an influential national think tank concluded in a scathing report that Florida’s science standards – which outline what students need to know to be well grounded in the subject – were sprawling, superficial and deserving of a big, fat F.
Amazingly, the Fordham Institute noted, the standards didn’t even mention the word “evolution.”
Fast-forward to now.
Proposed standards are more focused and better organized. They not only mention evolution, they dub it a “big idea.” And this time, they get a thumbs-up from the chief author of the Fordham report.
“Much better,” said biologist Paul Gross, a former provost at the University of Virginia, who reviewed the draft at the request of the St. Petersburg Times.
…
The current standards were adopted in 1996, when some education officials were concerned that direct mention of Darwin’s theory of evolution – the keystone of modern biology – would spark a cultural firestorm.
This time, state officials haven’t flinched. And though it remains to be seen how much of an uproar there may be from religious conservatives, the proposed standards are garnering strong support from teachers and scientists.
“Nothing like that is ever perfect,” said Gerry Meisels, a University of South Florida chemistry professor who directs the state’s Coalition for Science Literacy. “But they are a very big step forward.”
“They’re good science,” said Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science.
There obviously is a lot of controversy when it comes to evolution. Mention the “e-word” and people come out of the woodwork. The article says that as of early this week, 7,069 have left comments on the standards at the public review website. The good news is that comments in favor of evolution are winning out by a 2-to-1 margin.
Now the real question is whether the Florida Board of Education, which has final say over the fate of the new standards, will do the right thing or turn this into a circus.
I’m of two minds about the proposed science standards. On the one hand, the explicit inclusion of evolution is long overdue. On the other hand, the overall structure of the standards is rather messy. “Organization and Development” as a “Big Idea” separate from evolution makes no sense. I have lay concerns about other pieces, but I suspect that getting evolution into the standards will be purchased at the cost of a disorganized set of standards overall.