A familiar debate over the origins of life鈥攖his time centered on a science-textbook sticker鈥攊s playing out in a Georgia courtroom, where parents are challenging their school district鈥檚 written description of evolution as 鈥渁 theory, not a fact.鈥�
That fight was unfolding last week in Atlanta, not long after similar questions about the teaching of evolution arose in districts in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The Georgia parents filed a federal suit against the 102,000-student Cobb County district in an attempt to remove a sticker that is being affixed to textbooks for some middle and high school science classes. 鈥淭his textbook contains material on evolution,鈥� the sticker says. 鈥淓volution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.鈥�
To some parents in the district, that disclaimer amounts to an improper endorsement of religious beliefs. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e misleading people,鈥� argued Kathleen Chapman, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and the mother of a high school student. 鈥淭he theory of evolution is not a hunch. It鈥檚 a fact.鈥�
Cobb County district spokesman Jay Dillon declined comment on the suit, under way in the U.S. District Court in the state capital. The stickers, he said, are not aimed at encouraging the teaching of creationism, but rather at allowing for discussion of a variety of theories. Cobb County鈥檚 school board voted in 2002 to attach the stickers to the textbooks.
Evolving Arguments
Battles erupt periodically across the country over challenges to the teaching of the theory of evolution. Espoused by Charles Darwin, it postulates that organisms, including human beings, have evolved over time, through genetic variation and natural selection.
Evolution is broadly accepted by the scientific community as the most credible explanation for the origins of life. A 1999 report by the National Academy of Sciences, for instance, stated that creation science 鈥渋s in fact not science and should not be presented as such in science classes.鈥�
John H. Calvert, a managing director for the Intelligent Design Network, an advocacy organization in Shawnee Mission, Kan., said the Cobb County sticker was 鈥渋mportant, even necessary鈥� in promoting diverse views. 鈥淪hould evolution be taught? Sure it should be,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is the reigning ideology. But it should be taught as theory, not as [dogma].鈥�
Intelligent design is the general belief that intelligent causes have played a role in the origin of life.
In the 3,600-student Dover, Pa., school district, meanwhile, the school board last month approved science standards that say students will be made aware of 鈥済aps/problems鈥� in Darwin鈥檚 theory and be exposed to the belief in intelligent design.
Also last month, the Grantsburg, Wis., school board approved a policy that students be taught 鈥渧arious scientific models/theories of origin,鈥� according to a statement by the 1,100-student district. The policy is not aimed at promoting creationism, it said, but to encourage 鈥渁cademic freedom鈥� and critical thinking.
Eugenie C. Scott, the executive director of the National Center for Science Education, said her Oakland, Calif.-based organization has heard of a rising number of complaints about school boards鈥� attempts to encourage the teaching of creationism.
In response to court decisions preventing them from promoting creationist beliefs, she said, some school boards are now seeking to suggest there are doubts about evolution theory. 鈥淵ou get a little further away from frank religious advocacy,鈥� said Ms. Scott, whose organization champions the teaching of evolution.
