Real Science or Personal Beliefs?

The following was written by Mary Vogas and is the first in her series to discuss issues with the authoritarian membership of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE).

It’s time to get involved  so our children will be taught sound science principles in the schools in Texas!  The countdown is in its final moments!  The Texas State Board of Education will be meeting in Austin on Nov. 18 – 21, 2008.  They will be looking at the science curriculum standards for Texas public schools.  The last time changes were made in the  science standards was a decade ago. 

The SBOE will be deciding if sound science will be replaced by political and religious beliefs.  That’s because some members of the SBOE are hung up on ideology that evolution is just about humans and apes.  But in biology, evolution refers to changes in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next.  The science community has spoken that biological evolution is a fact and has been proven.  There are over 100,000 published biological research studies that state that evolution is a fact.  Even Pope Benedict XVI has said that evolution can coexist with faith.  What has not been proven is how it occurs.  So the fact that evolution occurs has nothing to do with whether you believe that God created life on earth or not.  That is the “how” that science has not proven, and scientists do not suggest that they have.  If the SBOE rules that evolution is not a fact and classrooms around the state start teaching that erroneous concept, we will produce students indoctrinated with incorrect science principles!  It is a priority to some of the SBOE members to weaken teaching evolution as a fact.  We need to listen to professionals when updating our science curriculum, not lay people that use their own ideas to decide what Texas students will be taught!

The textbooks that would be forthcoming would be filled with wrong information!  And, as you know, the textbooks that Texas buys will be bought in many other parts of the country.  Texas could be  the cause of our whole nation going down the wrong path in science!  We are already lagging in comparison to other countries in science test scores; so think where we will be if these changes are made!

What happens in Texas will reshape what happens in the rest of the country.  So, get up and and get involved now before we have to wait another 10 years to undo the mess that will be upon us from the SBOE! 

Public testimony will be held on November 19. 
Register to testify.
Review the science standards on which you will be testifying.