Will Texas Inherit the Wind?

This story parallels our reading of Edwards v. Aguillard and the debate over teaching evolution and creationism in schools. Articles are online here and here.

Superiors forced Christine Comer, a science teacher and director of science for the Texas Education Agency, into resigning because she forwarding an e-mail about a lecture on evolution. The TEA asserted that the agency had to be neutral about the evolution/creationism debate and employees couldn’t openly come out against creationism.

The article mentions that in early 2008 Texas is scheduled for a 10-year evaluation and rewriting of the state’s science education standards, including teaching evolution. Comer says that instead of saying that the State Board of Education supports teaching evolution, recently she was instructed to cite the education standard:

“The student knows the theory of biological evolution [and is expected to] identify evidence of change in species using fossils, DNA sequences, anatomical similarities, physiological similarities and embryology,” as well as to “illustrate the results of natural selection in speciation, diversity, phylogeny, adaptation, behavior and extinction.”

Years after the Scopes Monkey Trial and Edwards v. Aguillard, it is shocking that there is still controversy over teaching evolution in schools. It will be interesting to see how Texas decides to revamp its science standards and public reactions.