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A victory for science, and sense

By Times editorial
Published August 7, 2006

In another skirmish over the teaching of evolution, the forces of reason and common sense have won out. On Tuesday, Kansans guaranteed that they will elect enough moderates to their statewide school board in November to ensure that evolution will again be taught in public schools without religion on the side.

Kansas has been a particularly potent battleground in the fight between the teaching of evolution - the basis of biology - and the religiously grounded notion of intelligent design, which claims that life is too complex to have developed through the evolutionary process and must have been the work of an intelligent designer.

In 1999, the state's conservative school board rang alarm bells through the scientific community by eliminating any mention of evolution in its curriculum. It was an action that would have seriously handicapped the education of the state's students and could have limited their career options. Why would any of the nation's great universities consider accepting Kansas students in a pre-med or other natural science program when these students were missing a fundamental understanding of our natural world?

The state became a laughingstock and soon thereafter voters tossed out three of those who had voted against the teaching of evolution. The new majority made sure that the science curriculum was restored. But in 2004, extremists once again took control of the board and voted 6-4 to support a curriculum that included criticism of evolution and a definition of science that could include the supernatural.

Mainstream science does not question the accuracy of Darwin's theory, and the evidence for it has recently strengthened significantly as the secrets of DNA are unraveled. But supporters of intelligent design theory like to erroneously claim that the jury is still out.

In the Republican primary for school board on Tuesday, Kansas voters flipped things back again and ousted two conservatives. So after the November election, there will be a 6-4 majority supporting a traditional science curriculum.

A similar electoral realignment occurred in Dover, Pa., last year after the school board had demonstrated hostility toward evolution. Eight Republicans who supported intelligent design were replaced with Democrats who opposed injecting religion into science.

It is a relief to know that Kansas has enough sensible voters to push back against the ignorant acts of its school board. This is a fight we shouldn't be having if America wants its children to succeed in an ever more competitive world.

[Last modified August 7, 2006, 06:25:52]