Greenville News | Fair introduces bill to allow teachers to discuss alternatives to evolution
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COLUMBIA — A Greenville senator introduced legislation Thursday that would allow teachers to discuss alternative theories to evolution.
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Sen. Mike Fair, a Greenville Republican, said in a statement the bill wouldn’t advocate any point of view or preclude any theory.
“Children are being spoon-fed theories as if they are facts, and teachers are not even allowed the freedom to debate the truth of those theories,” he said.
“The very nature of science is to ask questions and to go where the evidence leads. The evidence regarding evolution is leading away from Darwin’s theory, and yet there is a political persistence, a world view that is prejudiced within the areas of higher education and it is spilling over into the K-12 classroom.”
Jim Foster, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said he didn’t see the need for the bill. “Science teachers are already free to discuss science,” he said. “So unless the intent is to introduce content that’s not scientific, it’s difficult to see why we need this.”
The purpose of including science in what students are taught, Fair said, is to inform students about scientific evidence and to help students develop critical thinking skills needed to become informed citizens.
The most crucial step in the scientific method, Fair argued, begins with asking a question, which is what he said the bill would allow students and teachers to do.
With nine business days left in the legislative session, Fair said the bill cannot pass this year. However, he said he hopes it starts a debate that will carry over next year, when he plans to re-introduce the bill.
He said he hopes to hear from educators this summer about the bill, especially about their experiences in attempting to hold discussions on controversial topics.
Similar bills have been introduced in five other states, according to Education Week, which said the legislation is similar to model academic-freedom legislation supported by the Discovery Institute, a pro-intelligent design organization based in Seattle.
Published in the Greenville News
By Tim Smith
May 16, 2008
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