Fights break out over science debate

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The State Board of Education listens to passionate debate from creationism and evolution supporters Wednesday and votes this week on new science curriculum for Texas public schools. It is a subject that is certainly keeping the public's attention.

The comments during the public hearings will help the state board decide how your children will be taught science for the next 10 years, and the debate got ugly quickly Wednesday morning at the William B. Travis building north of the State Capitol. A heated exchange happened during a press conference by the Free Market Foundation before the public hearings even began.

The Free Market Foundation wants creationism, intelligent design and evolution to be taught to all high school science students in Texas, and it supports keeping the strengths-and-weaknesses wording to stay put. However, the press conference became heated after a man, who supports taking the strengths-and-weaknesses wording out of high school science curriculum standards, wanted to ask a question.

"Sir, I have control of this press conference." said Jonathan Saenz with the Free Market Foundation, who became angry.

Groups like the Texas Freedom Network argue only science should be taught and that creationism and intelligent design is not supported by scientists anyway. Groups have been fighting for years over whether public schools in Texas should teach intelligent design as well as evolution in schools.

When teaching intelligent design was ruled unconstitutional, some members of the State Board of Education came up with an amendment that would mandate teachers explain the strengths and weaknesses about the theory of evolution. According to opponents of this amendment, this is a way for the board to circumvent the law and teach a watered-down version of why intelligent design could explain the weaknesses in evolution theory.

It is a debate that has engaged scientists from around the country and members of various religious groups.

Science community viewpoint

Members of the country's science community and the Texas Freedom Network said teaching the weaknesses of Darwin's evolution theory in schools will lower the quality of education in Texas schools.

"What's happening in Texas is clearly ringing alarm bells across the country," said Lawrence Krauss, director of the Origins Institute and a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University.

Members of the science community are calling for the State Board of Education to adopt the following recommendations for the new science curriculum in schools:

• Bring biology education in Texas into the 21st Century
• Clarify for teachers what is to be taught in biology classrooms
• Prepare students for college or careers beyond high school
• Serve as a curriculum model for other states as they revise and refine their own curricula

University of Texas at Dallas President David E. Daniel has also addressed the State Board of Education on this issue.

"Students exposed to a strong science curriculum will undoubtedly be better prepared to compete for high-skill jobs in an increasingly high-tech world economy," said Daniel in his letter to the board.

The Strengths-and-Weaknesses viewpoint

There is another viewpoint on this debate, and it is not just coming from parents and members of the religious community. Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center) has filed a bill that would allow schools to teach the weaknesses and strengths of evolution, despite the board's final decision. The bill has four co-authors and six joint authors.

The bill mandates that "no governmental entity shall prohibit any teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students to understand, analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information."

Several parents are weighing in on the issue as well, saying that evolution is a theory and therefore should be examined as such.

"Science is supposed to be questioned," said Jim Maxwell, a former school teacher and parent of a 13-year-old boy. "My son isn't even allowed to question the theory of evolution and that's all it is- a theory."

Texas Board of Education's decision

The board will hear public testimony on Wednesday as all sides speak out, and then it will make a final vote on the curriculum standards on Friday.