On Teaching Science

The California Board of Education has an opportunity in the coming week to sharpen the teaching of science and to set aside, as it certainly should, efforts of some groups to interject religious concepts in the teaching of scientific theories. At the heart of the dispute is the campaign of some Christian fundamentalists to have their ideas of creationism included in the public-school science curriculum.

Only science should be taught in science classes, the new state policy statement affirms. That is correct. It is, in fact, essential if science education is to meet the standards required for a nation now locked in a global intellectual, scientific and technological competition that will touch the life of every citizen.

Advocates of the concept of creationism ignore the overwhelming evidence of evolution so starkly visible in the mountains and valleys of the Earth, in the depths of the world’s oceans and in the life, plant and animal, that abounds. Instead, they argue an interpretation of the Bible that portrays the Earth as but a few thousand years old, and human beings as having been instantly created in their present form--views rejected by the great majority of Christians, including the Roman Catholic, mainstream Protestant and Anglican churches.

There can be a place in the discussion of the humanities, of comparative religion, of philosophy for the study of creationism as the dogma of sincere people. But there is no place for it in the instruction of science. The intrusion of religious dogma into scientific instruction betrays the very credibility of the study. Yet existing policy in the state encourages an ambiguity in instruction about evolution so that teachers are to use conditional language in discussing the origins of the Earth and of life. Some teachers have assumed that this required them to introduce creationism dogma along with the theory of evolution. This has also encouraged textbook publishers to confuse students through their cautious discussions of matters of accepted theory, and even to eliminate from some books any discussion of evolution at all.

A special committee of the California Board of Education has now drafted a most welcome clarification of policy, sanctioning more forthright discussion of evolution and other material in the science curriculum, however controversial the material may be to some groups. Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction, has endorsed the recommendation. The board itself can now adopt this useful step in raising the quality of science education in the state.