Panel Agrees to Alter Evolution Guide on Texts

Insisting they were trying to avoid redundancy and not bowing to pressure from the religious right, members of a Board of Education committee agreed Wednesday to remove references to evolution as scientific fact from a guideline for science textbooks.

The 5-1 decision by the Policy and Planning Committee was a clear signal that a majority of the nine-member board will formally approve the 190-page guideline today.

The proposal to alter the evolution section of the guideline came from Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig. He said he offered it as a compromise to satisfy some conservative board members who found the tone of the section to be too “argumentative.”

Honig contended the guideline still makes it clear that evolution has been accepted by scientists. To include the reference to it as scientific fact, he argued, would be repetitious and might “muddy the waters.”

Although many of the modifications had also been requested by conservative religious groups, both Honig and board members steadfastly maintained that their only purpose in altering the document was “to make it clearer.” They said the guideline still leaves no room for the teaching of creationism, the biblical version of the origin of man espoused by the religious groups.

“I think if you read this document you see very clear language,” said Honig. “Evolution will be taught. It will be taught strongly. It will be taught in classes and if books don’t reflect that they won’t get adopted.”

The only objections to the proposed changes were raised by Paras Mehta of Cerritos, the student member of the board who sat in on the meeting even though he is not a member of the committee. Saying he feared the change may “deprive the document of its strength,” Mehta urged the panel to think carefully before it removed the references to evolution as scientific fact.

However, only one board member, Committee Chairman Joseph Carrabino, cast a dissenting vote and his concerns were not directed at the modifications. Carrabino said his colleagues should delay approval of the guideline to allow more time to correct any potential technical flaws in the document.

The committee’s decision ends months of controversy spawned by conservative religious groups wanting drastic changes in the guideline and scientific and anti-censorship groups pushing for its adoption as written. The guideline was authored by a committee of scientists and educators and formally recommended to the board by the California Curriculum Commission.

The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition, a religious group lobbying for teachers to be allowed to present creationism, said the modifications were “a beginning” but they did not go far enough.

“Only removing the statement evolution is a scientific fact from the introduction does not change the many, many dogmatic statements throughout the document,” he said.

Michael Hudson, western director for the civil libertarian group, People for the American Way, said it is clear that board members were influenced by the religious groups.

“The document is clearly a strong science statement even with regard to evolution,” he said. “The shame is that it had to be tarnished by concessions to the religious right.”

A new guideline is adopted by the board every seven years for publishers to use in writing textbooks. Once the textbooks are completed, they are then submitted to the board for final approval. The board draws up a list of accepted textbooks which local school districts use to select their teaching materials.