The state of Florida is considering a new science teaching standard that
presumes the accuracy of the theory of evolution, much to the consternation of
parents and other leaders who say society too often already has been embarrassed
by such "Flat Earth Society" thinking.
At issue is a set of standards that will be considered by the state Board of Education
that will mandate the teaching of evolution as fact and, essentially, forbid the
discussion of facts that may contradict that theory.
"The proposed standards [for evolution] … presume ideas to be facts and leave
no opportunity to study them beyond their narrow presentation," Fred Cutting, a
retired aerospace engineer, said. He served on the state's Science Standards
Framers Committee because of his expertise in biology, specifically species
origins and the human genome project, and found the treatment of evolution "very
one-sided, bias[ed] and narrow in its final views."
The standards, he said, "are dogmatic and not scientifically neutral. … In
the biology standards for evolution that were proposed, there was no room for
any critical thinking or criticism of prevailing science theories. Students are
not encouraged to do any critical thinking or evaluations within the proposed
standards being questioned. The life sciences subcommittee refused to
distinguish between what can be observed, tested and objectively verified, on
one hand, and what is speculation and/or mere hypothesis on the other."
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