Kansas and Evolution

Here is an article on the ongoing debate on evolution in Kansas, featured in the Kansas City Star.

A three-member board subcommittee had its second day of hearings on how evolution should be taught in Kansas schools. The entire board plans to consider changes in June in standards that determine how Kansas students are on science.

This is certainly a very timely discussions, with the great emphasis being placed on values since the 2004 election. However, the result of this debate appears to be rigged in favor of intelligent design.

State and national science groups are boycotting the hearings, viewing them as rigged in favor of language backed by intelligent design advocates.

Board members Kathy Martin, of Clay Center, and Connie Morris, of St. Francis, acknowledged they had merely scanned proposed standards retaining the state's current policy of describing evolution as a key concept for students to learn. Martin's acknowledgment elicited groans of disbelief from a few audience members. (italics mine)

Although we might already be a bit concerned over how impartial a subcommittee can be in Kansas, this new revelation certainly validates the fact that the end result is already determined.

What is important to note is that any result in Kansas will certainly garner a fair amount of media attention, which will push the debate into other states as well. Before we know it, other committees like this one may be setup all across the country, resulting in numerous states rejecting the theory of evolution, in favor of religious-based explinations. From there, a number of other areas of education and civil society could also be amended.