Revised Science Textbooks Win State Board Approval

Rejecting complaints from both scientists and creationists, the state Board of Education on Friday approved a new set of science textbooks for use over the next six years in California’s public schools.

Since September, when the board drew national attention by rejecting the books for their “watered-down” coverage of topics such as evolution and human reproduction, the publishers have inserted new sentences, charts, photos and, in some cases, entire chapters.

On Friday, the board, in a 7-2 vote, pronounced itself satisfied, if not entirely pleased.

“This is a first step in our effort to improve the quality of our textbooks,” said board President Sandra Boese of Merced. “We have sent a clear message to publishers that . . . we want to reverse a 10-year decline in textbooks.”

“These books are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination,” added Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig. “But we have made tremendous gains in a relatively short period of time. These books are probably the best junior high science texts in the country.”

The six publishers now have the go-ahead to begin printing new books for use in the state’s elementary schools and junior highs by next September.

California’s schools are expected to spend $25 million on new science books next year. Although teachers and local school officials select the books to be used in class, they may only buy texts that have gained official state approval.

Before voting final approval, the board rejected a motion to insert “negative evidence” about evolution.

“When you finish reading these books, you can come to only one conclusion: We evolved from the lowest form of life,” said board member John Ward of Lakewood.

There is “no opening, no window for an alternative view,” he said in proposing an amendment.

However, others said the board had already resolved to present a clear account of evolution in science texts and should not reverse itself at the last moment. On a 7-2 vote, Ward’s motion was defeated.

Despite the firm rejection of the creationist position, scientists who had followed the development of the texts said they were disappointed with the outcome.

Process Assailed

“The revision process was a complete sham,” Kevin Padian, a paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley, said Friday. “The books were terrible before, and they are not a lot better now.”

During a public hearing Thursday, Padian displayed a shin bone of a dinosaur. He pointed out that the existence of the extinct reptiles was more than, as one book phrased it, something “many scientists believe.”

Thomas Jukes, a Berkeley biophysics professor and a co-author of the state’s science guidelines, described the revisions in the books as “perfunctory and, in some cases, worse than the original version.”

Both scientists said the Prentice-Hall texts--”General Science,” “Life Science” and “Physical Science”--were the best of the 18 books approved Friday. They also agreed that the Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co. had the two worst books in “Focus on Life Science” and “Principles of Science.”

The Merrill books are “totally unusable as science books,” Padian said.

During Thursday’s hearing, one critic objected to a suggestion in a Merrill book that teachers discuss the biblical notion of creation in class as an alternative explanation. Such an idea, he said, is equivalent to having a class on human reproduction consider “an alternative explanation involving the stork.”

Rights of Children

Thursday’s hearing included testimony from Nell and Kelly Seagraves of the Creation Science Research Center in San Diego. They charged that the science books are “dogmatic” in their advocacy of evolution and fail to “protect the rights of Christian children.”

Having heard the two sets of critics, board member David Romero of Hacienda Heights commented Friday that he was voting in favor of the books, because both sides seemed “equally unhappy.”

Bob Douglas, who headed the state’s science review panel, gave the revised books a more staunch defense.

“These are the best science books that this state has ever seen . . . and will provide the children of California with the most extensive coverage of the content of science that we’ve ever had,” said Douglas, a Plumas County school official.

“These books weren’t written by an assistant streetsweeper in New York City,” added Douglas, bristling at the scientists’ charge that the books were filled with errors.

Thanks to the revisions included in the last three months, the new books have “significantly expanded coverage of cells and evolution” and include charts and photos that show different mammals have common ancestors, he said.

National Standard

Since California’s schools buy about 12% of the nation’s textbooks, the revised books are expected to become the standard national edition for most publishers.

Honig noted that the state’s official approval process does not cover high school texts. However, he said his office is planning to conduct a review of the currently available books for upper grades in order to advise local schools on the quality of these texts.

TEXTBOOK REVISIONS

Science textbooks in California were ordered rewritten to include more coverage of controversial topics such as evolution. Passages on other subjects were rewritten to make the descriptions clearer and more precise. Here is an example:

ORIGINAL PARAGRAPH For example, in humans there are two types of red blood cells and three types of muscle cells. There are also covering cells, nerve cells, bone cells and fat cells. Each cell has a special shape enabling it to perform its task. In plants there are cells specialized for absorbing water from the soil. There are also cells for covering, transporting and growing.

REVISED PARAGRAPH For example, red blood cells are specialized for transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide. Red blood cells contain the protein called hemoglobin. In your lungs oxygen enters the blood and combines with hemoglobin. Then the red blood cells circulate to all parts of your body where the hemoglobin releases the oxygen. Some of the carbon dioxide produced by cells is then picked up by the hemoglobin and released back in the lungs and exhaled from the body.