Re: National Academy Scientist Encourages Kansas to AdoptScience Standards Allowing for Critical Analys

This Discovery Institute press release is sneaky in other ways as you
probably recognize, Steve. It omits mention (as we would expect) of all of
the skullduggary Keith described in his note, making it sound as if the
Kansas Board is following procedure and everything is on the up-and-up.
Then there is this high-minded sentence:

>Like Dr. Skell, we believe evolution should be taught as a scientific
> theory that is open to critical scrutiny, not as a sacred dogma that can't
> be questioned," said Seth Cooper, Senior Program Analyst, Public Policy &
> Legal Affairs at the Discovery Institute.

It would take longer for me to deconstruct the anti-evolution rhetoric there
than I care to take the time to. You call can spot it for yourselves. The
Discovery Institute's goal is to so discredit evolutionary biology in the
eyes of the public that it will make it increasingly difficult for public
science courses to include a healthy dose of it without incurring the wrath
of parents and local creationist clergy. It's hard enough in many parts of
the country today for high school biology teachers to teach about evolution
because of a hostile climate in their communities. As most of my students
told me when I queried them years ago, the teacher "skipped that chapter."
No problem with "sacred dogma" in those cases.

Of course, the Discovery Institute will take the public stance that it does
not want ID "mandated or required." They just want it in there, and figure
if they stir up enough publicity, parents and their kids will want the
teacher to "teach the controversy," i.e., the one that the ID have invented
and are going full steam ahead with.

Bob Schneider

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Matheson" <smatheso@calvin.edu>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>; "Pattle Pun" <Pattle.P.Pun@wheaton.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 4:31 PM
Subject: Re: National Academy Scientist Encourages Kansas to AdoptScience
Standards Allowing for Critical Analys

> Sneaky, sneaky. The Discovery Institute identifies Skell as a "professor
> emeritus of biochemistry." Nope; he identifies his research interests as
> "organic chemistry mechanisms, organometallic chemistry, and heterogeneous
> catalysis," and his title at Penn State is "Holder Emeritus of the Evan
> Pugh
> Professor of Chemistry." He may well know what an Alu repeat is, but he's
> not
> a biochemist.
>
> Naturally this won't matter to the Discovery Institute, which would surely
> never be caught dead making a bogus appeal to authority.
>
> Steve Matheson
> Calvin College
> Biology Dept.
> matheson@calvin.edu
>
>>>> Pattle Pak Toe Pun <Pattle.P.Pun@wheaton.edu> 05/12/05 3:45 PM >>>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 17:22:24 -0700
> From: Discovery Institute <press@discovery.org>
> To: cscinfo@discovery.org
> Subject: National Academy Scientist Encourages Kansas to Adopt Science
> Standards Allowing for Critical Analysis of Evolution
>
> National Academy Scientist Encourages Kansas to Adopt Science Standards
> Allowing for Critical Analysis of Evolution
>
>
>
> TOPKEA, KS. --- Dr. Phil Skell, a member of the National Academy of
> Sciences** and a professor emeritus of biochemistry at Pennsylvania State
> University, has just sent an open letter to the Kansas State Board of
> Education encouraging them to revise the state's science standards to
> allow
> students to learn the scientific evidence both for and against biological
> and chemical evolution.
>
>
>
> "I am writing-as a member of the National Academy of Sciences-to voice my
> strong support for the idea that students should be able to study
> scientific
> criticisms of the evidence for modern evolutionary theory along with the
> evidence favoring the theory. . Evolution is an important theory and
> students need to know about it. But scientific journals now document many
> scientific problems and criticisms of evolutionary theory and students
> need
> to know about these as well," Skell writes. "Encouraging students to
> carefully examine the evidence for and against neo-Darwinism, therefore,
> will help prepare students not only to understand current scientific
> arguments, but also to do good scientific research."
>
>
>
> The Kansas State Board of Education is revising the state's science
> standards and last week a board sub-committee heard testimony from
> scientists and scholars about how biological and chemical evolution should
> be presented in the classroom. As a matter of public policy, the
> Discovery
> Institute's Center for Science and Culture, the nation's leading think
> tank
> dealing with scientific challenges to Darwinian evolution, opposes any
> effort to mandate or require the teaching of intelligent design by school
> districts or state boards of education.
>
>
>
> "Like Dr. Skell, we believe evolution should be taught as a scientific
> theory that is open to critical scrutiny, not as a sacred dogma that can't
> be questioned," said Seth Cooper, Senior Program Analyst, Public Policy &
> Legal Affairs at the Discovery Institute.
>
>
>
> Last year Ohio adopted a model curriculum that includes a lesson plan on
> the
> "Critical Analysis of Evolution." Two other states, New Mexico, and
> Minnesota, have adopted science standards that require learning about some
> of the scientific controversies relating to evolution.
>
>
>
> **Members
> <http://www4.nationalacademies.org/nas/nashome.nsf/b57ef1bf2404952b852566dd0
> 0671bfd/d1e1ffa204f859cf852566dd006c1560?OpenDocument> and foreign
> associates of the Academy are elected in recognition of their
> distinguished
> and continuing achievements in original research; election to the Academy
> is
> considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or
> engineer.
>
>
>
> Copies of Dr. Skell's letter are available at the CSC website:
>
> http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view
> <http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=2568&prog
> ram=CSC> &id=2568&program=CSC - Views and News&callingPage=discoMainPage
>
>
>
> ###
>
>
>
> To schedule an interview with Discovery Institute spokesperson contact
> Kristina Grabosky at (703)-683-5004, ext. 132, or Rob Crowther at (206)
> 292-0401 x107.
>
>
>
Received on Thu May 12 19:23:51 2005