9486 in the collection  

Minnesota Department of Education Tries to Waffle on Evolution

Two drafts of Minnesota's science standards circulated this week. The only difference? How they described the teaching of evolution.

The version the public didn't see included words like "might" and "possible" at strategic points that clearly cast doubt on the certainty of biological evolution.

When members of the citizens' panel that wrote the standards saw what was to be the final document, several saw the "mights" and "possibles" and protested that they didn't write the document that way and that the department made critical changes without telling the panel.

In the end, the committee got the language it wanted, giving evolution the full stamp of approval of the state as the way to teach science to all students in Minnesota's public schools.

The department said the confusion was a simple mistake caused by several versions floating around the agency, said spokesman Bill Walsh. He said it wasn't that Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke — who has acknowledged her belief in creationism — tried quietly to place her own personal misgivings about evolution into the standards.

"They weren't editing changes. It was just the wrong version that was put out,'' Walsh said. "When it was pointed out, we fixed it.''

The department released the different versions Monday. By Monday evening, after a flurry of e-mail exchanges among committee members, the final version was released. The confusion was repeated Tuesday when the department released the older version on its Web site, a problem that was quickly corrected.

"We don't know what went on. We are in the dark,'' said committee member Melanie Reap, an assistant professor at Winona State University. "But we are going to keep our eye out. This was a shock to us. We weren't expecting it.''

Another committee member, Brainerd High School teacher Nicole Harmer, said the panel wanted more time to review the final document in order to avoid such problems. She said she didn't know if the mistake over the versions was intentional or not.

"The jury is still out,'' she said. "But I'm a little frustrated there weren't tighter controls over the versions used. We should have been granted more time.''

The confusion over the versions adds fodder to the argument that the new draft versions of science and social studies standards are too politically charged, said Rep. Jim Davnie, DFL-Minneapolis, a middle-school teacher and a member of the House Education Policy Committee.

"I'm increasingly seeing these new standards as statements of values. My problem is, they are values skewed in one direction,'' Davnie said. "These standards seem to be moving away from a mainstream Minnesota idea of what students should know.''

The citizens committee submitted its final draft to the Department of Education in late August. Members said it was largely a consensus document, even on the volatile issue of evolution. Yecke told members she would make final changes for punctuation and cosmetic reasons, Walsh said. The agency released its version Friday to committee members, and the discrepancy was discovered over the weekend. "It was a screw-up. It's not politics,'' Walsh said.

The proposed standards will now be the subject of public hearings across the state for the next two months. A final version will be submitted to the Legislature next year.


— John Welsh
Squelched standards hedged on evolution
Pioneer Press
2003-09-10
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/living/education/6731924.htm

---

INDEX OF OUTRAGES

Pages: 380   
[1] 2 3 4 5 6  Next >>    Last >>