Speakers Push for Science Changes
Speakers Push for Science Changes
By John Chambliss - Thr Lakeland Ledger - Wed, 11/21/2007
LAKELAND | Two members of a science group who support the addition of evolution into proposed science standards pleaded on Tuesday with Polk County School Board members to accept the new benchmarks.
"I hope they come to their senses," said Jonathan Smith, a member of the board of directors for Florida Citizens for Science. "Do they want a million-dollar lawsuit?"
After the two spoke, an eighth-grade science teacher at Union Academy in Bartow spoke in favor of intelligent design, a belief that living organisms are so complex that they must have been created by some kind of higher force.
"When you talk about laws in nature it shows some order or design," said Lawrence Hughes, who has taught at the academy for 16 years. "The laws of nature don't support change from one organism to another organism."
Four of the seven School Board members have said they support teaching intelligent design in addition to evolution in public school science classes. Board members did not respond when Smith and Joe Wolf, president of the Florida Citizens for Science, spoke about their opposition to intelligent design, but board member Margaret Lofton thanked Hughes after his talk.
"I support what you have to say," Lofton told Hughes.
Lofton has said that if the issue comes before the board she will vote against adding evolution to state science standards.
The current Sunshine State Standards do not explicitly use the term evolution, stating instead that students should learn about "biological changes over time."
In an interview after the meeting, Hughes said "a lot of evidence supports intelligent design."
"The scientific evidence to support evolution from apes is not there," Hughes said.
But Smith and others say it's clear that scientists in Florida overwhelmingly support the proposed standards, which include evolution as one of the "big ideas'' that students need to learn in science classes.
Smith called Hughes' actions a ruse to have religion pushed back into the schools.
"Intelligent design is religion," Wolf said. "The best place to see this is the decision by (U.S. District) Judge Jones."
Wolf was referring to a case in 2005 when Jones barred the teaching of intelligent design in Dover, Pa., saying that it is "creationism in disguise." The school district in Dover ended up spending more than a million dollars on court fees after losing the lawsuit.
The evolution debate in Polk County is drawing national attention. A posting on the popular science blog Pharyngula said Polk "may be our next trouble spot. They have a creationist majority on the school board."
The state committee that devised the new standards will review the new benchmarks and public input from Dec. 17-19. The state Board of Education will vote in January whether to adopt the new standards.
[John Chambliss can be reached at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588.]