For Immediate Release                                                                                                November 19, 2008                                                            

TBSE Urges SBOE to defend Texas science standards from being gutted by Darwinian Thought Police 

Real improvements would tighten language -- 82% of Texans support the current TEKS wording

 AUSTIN, TEXAS- The elected Texas State Board of Education will soon review a draft  revision of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for K-12 science where Darwinists have removed current language requiring students to examine the scientific "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific theories, including evolution.

"Darwinist activists like the extreme leftist Texas Freedom Network are trying to gut the TEKS, by censoring what students learn about evolution,"  says a volunteer from Texans for Better Science Education.  “Time-proven ‘strengths and weaknesses’ language has been in Texas school standards or books since at least 1988 and has served science, students, teachers and Texas well.  It has never been questioned before, even by groups such as the ACLU.  Americans reject any attempts to indoctrinate.  82% of Texas parents, crossing all demographic and political boundaries, support teaching both sides.  There is no economic or scientific reason to change.  Censoring well-known scientific weaknesses such as the origin of life, the origin of information contained in the DNA double helix, the massive and systematic gaps in the fossil record, and the origin of irreducibly complex features of cells and organisms amounts to not telling students the “whole truth”.  

Dr. Ide Trotter adds, "Evolution as 'descent with modification' and 'survival of the fittest' has NOTHING to do with the origin of life problem. So-called chemical evolution is an oxymoron of the highest order."

Over one-half of the total number of expert scientists selected by the SBOE to review standards, and including one of the Darwinists members' picks, support keeping the “strengths and weaknesses” language.  Two reasons cited by the experts include:

• The language will encourage students to understand how scientists think, debate, and follow the evidence wherever it leads when solving scientific problems; and

• "Strengths and weaknesses" language strengthens critical thinking skills.

Ironically, the Darwinists recently removed the “strengths and weaknesses” language from unrelated parts of the TEKS in a feeble attempt to pretend this has nothing to do with evolution.  They only did so after skeptics of evolution noted that the “strengths and weaknesses” language was removed from the biology TEKS only in the initial draft, but remained elsewhere.  

"The SBOE needs to stand up for academic freedom and make sure that scientific inquiry is not expelled from our classrooms," said a TBSE volunteer.  "When the SBOE meets we trust they will do what is best for students and not succumb to the pressure of über-liberal special interest groups like the TFN. We say students should be taught more evolution, not less – strengths and weaknesses – and let the fittest theories survive.”

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Press only:  press@strengthsandweaknesses.org

Teach more evolution, not less—strengths and weaknesses—and let the fittest theories survive.