Creationism in the Classroom: Florida and Texas, Then the Nation

Controversies over the classroom role of evolution in Texas and Florida could set a national precedent, say science education watchdogs.

Texas, where a former Bush appointee led the dismissal of a pro-evolution education official, and Florida, where evolution-friendly science standards are under attack, will both revise their science education standards in the next year. Along with California, they're the largest textbook markets in the nation. If they want texts describing evolution as an unproven assumption, publishers will make them -- and other states will buy the same books by default.

Is the Discovery Institute -- the creationist think tank that promotes as science the theory of intelligent design, which posits a divine explanation for the origins of life -- using Texas and Florida as an entry to the nation's classrooms? I posed the question to Josh Rosenau of the National Center for Science Education, Florida Citizens for Science president Joe Wolf and Fordham Institute science education expert Lawrence Lerner.

Wrote Rosenau,

The DI has a long history of involvement with the Texas standards process and with textbook adoption in Texas.... Because of the size of the Texas textbook market, and because many other states follow their lead, publishers generally follow whatever direction Texas points them in.

... I haven't seen any evidence of the Discovery Institute getting involved [in Florida]. The DI tends to be stealthier about their religious motives than the folks opposing the standards have been thus far. My fear is that Florida will do something like happened in Kansas a couple years ago, with the Board of Education overruling the decisions made by the expert committee appointed to draft the new standards.

Wolf wasn't quite so sure that growing public opposition to Florida's proposed science standards is unrelated to the Discovery Institute.

We have seen what we think is some involvement of DI here in Florida, but it is all supposition on my part. For example, Fred Cutting, an engineer from over in Pinellas, wrote a letter to the framers committee
(he is on that committee). I personally don’t think he wrote the letter himself or alone. We have also had over the last year or so lectures about ID from people associated with DI.

But we have had no information that DI is involved in the letter writing campaigns to the state board. It seems more like DOE, churches and maybe some Christian colleges are pushing this.

(Cutting's letter to the framers committee -- one of the two committees charged with drafting the state's new science standards -- was mentioned in this Christian Post article. Wrote Cutting, a retired engineer who has taught intelligent design to high school students,
"Students should learn why some scientists give scientific critiques of standard models of neo-Darwinian evolution.")

Lawrence Lerner said Florida and Texas should certainly be seen as beachheads in the battle against intelligent design. He wrote,

The Dover case was a serious setback to creationists, ID or otherwise.
However, no one involved in science education ever thought the IDCs would go away on account of a single courthouse defeat. Florida and
Texas represent two chances to get a Federal district court opinion that contradicts the Pennsylvania one, and the present and possible future makeup of the Supreme Court gives the creationists considerable encouragement to give it their best try.

It's important to remember that the creationist controversy exists purely in the public/political realm and not the scientific realm. That will continue to be the case until the unlikely day when a creationist, using creationist "scientific principles" (of which there are none)
makes a genuine contribution to the life sciences.

The case Lerner referred to is Kitzmiller v. Dover, a 2005 decision in which a federal court judge designated intelligent design as religion, not science. I asked Lerner whether he expects new lawsuits to be filed in Florida and Texas, and whether he thinks the curricula controversies are part of a plan. He responded,

Nothing much has happened yet. In Florida, the public-comment period for the draft science standards has just closed. I believe that the writing committee will have one more go at the draft in light of the comments this week. They will submit their work to the Board of
Education quite soon. The Board of Ed will then decide what is to be done with the final draft when it meets in January.

You can be sure that the creationists will be there in force and with a well-planned attack on the evolutionary content of the draft. What happens after that is up to the Board, but you should bear in mind that its membership includes a number of creationists appointed by Jeb Bush.

In Texas, the science standards will not be up for revision until some time in 2008 -- I'm not sure of the exact date. However, the Board of
Ed has sent a strong (if covert) signal in the firing of Ms. Comer, and the Department has made the remarkable statement that it must remain
"neutral" in the matter of creationism vs evolution. The new state education chairman is a creationist, though he has disavowed intention to manipulate the science standards. So what happens in Texas remains to be seen, and will doubtless be affected by what happens in Florida at an earlier date.

The public comment period for Florida's new standards ends Friday. You can review and comment upon them here.

See Also:

• Texas Science Curriculum Director Canned for Mentioning Evolution
• Evolutionary Theology: How to Love God and Science
• Evolution Battling Intelligent Design in Florida Schools