A complete version of this article can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/081299kan-evolution-edu.html

Kansas Votes to Delete Evolution From State's Science Curriculum

By PAM BELLUCK

CHICAGO -- The Kansas Board of Education voted on Wednesday to delete
virtually any mention of evolution from the state's science curriculum,
in one of the most far-reaching efforts by creationists in recent years
to challenge the teaching of evolution in schools.

While the move does not prevent the teaching of evolution, it will not
be included in the state assessment tests that evaluate students'
performance in various grades, which may discourage school districts
from spending time on the subject.

And the decision is likely to embolden local school boards seeking
either to remove evolution from their curriculums, to force teachers to
raise questions about its validity or to introduce creationist ideas.
Some local boards have already said they will consider adopting
creationist textbooks, while others have said they will continue
teaching evolution.

Creationists say a divine being created humans and other species. They
say that since evolution cannot be observed or replicated in a
laboratory, there is no evidence that it actually occurred.


The Kansas decision is significant because the new curriculum, which is
a guideline, deletes not only most references to biological evolution,
but also references to the big bang theory, which holds that the
universe was born from a vast explosion, contradicting creationists'
biblical interpretation. The new curriculum also includes at least one
case study that creationists use to debunk evolution.


Mark Looy of Answers in Genesis, a creationist group, said: "Students in
public schools are being taught that evolution is a fact, that they're
just products of survival of the fittest. There's not meaning in life if
we're just animals in a struggle for survival. It creates a sense of
purposelessness and hopelessness, which I think leads to things like
pain, murder and suicide."



Many creationists believe the Bible shows life on earth cannot be more
than 10,000 years old. Some have adopted a less religious
interpretation, saying the earth was created by an "intelligent
designer" because it is simply too complex to be explained any other
way.

Recently, creationists have been searching for events they say raise
doubts about evolution or suggest the world is much younger than
scientists claim. One common example is the 1980 eruption of Mount St.
Helen's, which creationists say proves geologic changes can happen very
rapidly. The new Kansas science standards include Mount St. Helen's and
Mount Etna as examples that "suggest alternative explanations to
scientific hypotheses or theories."

The Kansas debate began more than a year ago when the state appointed a
committee of 27 scientists and professors to write a state version of
new national science guidelines.

But when those standards were submitted to the board, a conservative
member, Steve Abrams, a former state Republican chairman, said he "had
some serious questions about it," claiming "it is not good science to
teach evolution as fact."

With the help of creationists, Abrams rewrote the standards, deleting
most of the two pages on evolution. What remained was "micro-evolution,"
which refers to genetic adaptation and natural selection within a
species. But "macro-evolution," the origin of species, was gone.

Abrams also tried to insert these words: "The design and complexity of
the design of the cosmos requires an intelligent designer." But after
protest from scientists, that sentence was stricken. After months of a
5-to-5 deadlock, the new standards were approved by a vote of 6 to 4,
with some anti-evolution board members and others supporting local
control.