State Board OKs New Science Teaching Policy

Despite objections from Christian fundamentalists, a new science teaching policy designed to strengthen classroom instruction about evolution and other controversial topics was approved Friday by the state Board of Education.

The new policy, approved by unanimous voice vote at a board meeting in Sacramento, defines and distinguishes between the teaching of scientific theory, such as evolution, and teaching about beliefs, such as Bible-based views that man was created in his present form.

Only science, including tested theories that explain natural phenomena and are based on evidence, should be taught in science classrooms, the new policy says. Discussions of competing beliefs, which are partly matters of faith and not subject to scientific testing, should be encouraged in social science courses, it adds.

Supporters of the new policy, including experts in the state Department of Education and panels of scientists and educators, say it is part of a larger effort to rebuild the quality of science teaching at a time when studies show U.S. students are deficient in their understanding of basic scientific principles.

‘Anti-Dogmatism’ Policy

Part of the problem in California, many argued, was the state board’s 16-year-old “anti-dogmatism” policy on science teaching, adopted as a compromise after an earlier battle between fundamentalists and scientists. That policy, which is replaced by the statement adopted Friday, called for “conditional” statements to be used in discussing the origins of life and the Earth.

Critics say it led textbook publishers and teachers to neglect or to be ambiguous in teaching widely accepted scientific theories about prehistoric times and human development. In addition, some teachers were using the policy as a rationale for introducing into classrooms creationist views, which are not endorsed by any major scientific organization.

Francie Alexander, the state’s associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said the new policy is a “reversal of the ‘dumbing down’ ” trend of recent years. Previously, she said, when a topic was as tough or controversial, “the implicit policy (was), ‘When in doubt, throw it out.’ ”

“We have to do a better job if we want a more scientifically literate population,” Alexander said. “This is one piece of a whole strategy.”

But the Rev. Lou Sheldon, president of the Orange County-based Traditional Values Coalition, criticized the new policy. “We see a very good anti-dogmatism statement being somewhat watered down,” he said. He said state education officials are attempting to teach evolution as a fact and are “putting themselves in a further adversarial role to family values.”

Sheldon, whose church-based group lobbied board members to reject the policy, said the battle is not over. He and state education officials note that the new policy statement is only the first step toward adoption of new, detailed science teaching guidelines. Those guidelines will shape the content of the next generation of state-funded science textbooks used in the 1990s in classrooms throughout California.

In addition to fighting for their view to be reflected in science teaching guidelines and new textbooks, the creationists will put pressure on local school boards not to support the state board’s new policy, Sheldon said.