State recognition of a creationist institute's degree would undermine science teacher credentials.
State recognition of a creationist institute's degree would
undermine science teacher credentials.
Faith-based science
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle - 12/27/2007 - original
Visitors to the Institute for Creation Research Web page can quickly deduce that the organization, founded in California and recently transplanted to Dallas, is a Christian group dedicated to spreading the doctrine of divine creation of the world and challenging the teaching of evolution as fact in public schools.
An advisory committee to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board recommends that the group be allowed to confer master's degrees in science education for teacher candidates. This indefensible action would be the equivalent of allowing an institute of faith-healers to issue advanced medical degrees. It would devalue the credentials of all science teachers and misrepresent to the public the capabilities of teachers with questionable diplomas.
The institute's statement of purpose leaves no doubt about its mission. According to its founders, it was formed "to equip believers with evidences of the Bible's accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework."
A sampling of its graduate online course offerings confirms that instead of real science education, the institute is training followers to challenge science curricula and influence young minds with a blatantly religious message. Students and faculty at the institute must accept the biblical account that God created the world in six days a few thousand years ago and that fossils are the remnant of a global deluge as described in the saga of Noah.
Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes expressed discomfort with the recommendation to sanction the institute's graduate degrees but wants a thorough review. He told the Houston Chronicle that "because this controversy is so potentially hot, we owe it to both sides to be absolutely fair in evaluating it."
His caution is admirable, but the creationist battle has already been fought in other states in which science has been the decisive victor. Paredes makes the sensible observation that a degree issued by the institute should be labeled creation studies rather than science education.
Unfortunately, those espousing the teaching of creationism, or a variant called intelligent design, as alternative theories to evolution have been gaining ground in recent years in Texas' educational bureaucracy. The chairman of the Texas Board of Education, dentist Don McLeroy, is a self-described creationist who supports the teaching of the strengths and weaknesses of evolution as a theory in science classes.
The state's director of science curriculum, Chris Castillo Comer, was forced to resign after circulating an e-mail announcing a talk by an author of a book criticizing intelligent design. The State Board of Education will consider new public school science curricula in the coming year. Some ideologues on the board are sure to pressure the state to include creationist doctrine in science classes.
Texas schools must have the best science and technology instruction possible to make the state competitive in a 21st century economy. A science class that teaches children that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that species did not evolve from species now extinct is not worthy of the name.
Churches and other private institutions are proper places for the discussion of religious beliefs. Public school science classes are not.