Panel Urges Rejection of Texts Short on Evolution

A state textbook panel has urged that several junior high school science books be rejected because they do not adequately cover the theory of evolution.

California school officials say the move is part of a state campaign to counter a trend by textbook publishers to steer away from controversial subjects.

“Without talking about evolution, you can’t talk about modern biology,” said state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig. “We want to tell the publishers, ‘You don’t have the option of ducking this issue just because it’s controversial.’ ”

$115 Million for Books

The state’s public schools spend about $115 million a year on new textbooks, and California is one of the few states outside the South that officially approves certain textbooks for use in the schools.

Textbook panels in states such as Texas have criticized texts presenting evolution as the dominant theory of creation. This criticism has caused publishers to be leery of offending certain groups and has caused their books to be “bland and superficial,” Honig said.

“This is not just an issue of evolution versus creationism. It’s an issue of quality,” Honig said. “One picture of a giraffe won’t do as a treatment of evolution.”

Reading and Reviewing

California’s state curriculum guidelines say textbooks must deal with the theory of evolution in junior and senior high science courses. This summer, a panel of teachers and school officials has been reading and reviewing new junior high textbooks. The 16-member science panel concluded that the more than 20 books for grades seven and eight had “systematically omitted” information on the theory of evolution.

The panel’s report said the books “minimize the use of the word evolution, perpetuate popular ignorance about the nature and content of the theory of evolution, create false impressions about the contemporary scientific view of evolution, and in short, deny the importance of evolution as a part of contemporary science.”

Unless the publishers agree to make changes, the books should not be approved for use in the schools, the panel concluded.

“Some books give a few pages to evolution, and some never mention it. But the panel believed that none of them covered it adequately,” said Francie Alexander, director of the textbook office in the state Department of Education.

Darwin Gets Credit

For example, a seventh-grade text, “Principles of Science,” by the Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., credits Charles Darwin with “developing a theory that explains why there is a great number and variety of plant and animal species.” The book adds that scientists are still raising questions about Darwin’s theory and that “many of the questions that they have raised still remain unanswered.”

The state Board of Education has scheduled a public hearing in Sacramento on Sept. 12 to hear any reactions from publishers and advocates of creationism. The board will vote the next day on whether to accept the panel’s recommendation.