The news thus far is encouraging about the set of science standards under discussion by the Nebraska State Board of Education. These standards will be vital in helping students prepare for life and work in the 21st century.
The standards, to be completed by August, will be crucial in particular as Nebraska moves toward developing the specifics of its first statewide science test — a long overdue step for the state.
The board has included evolution in the curriculum as part of a commendably calm and responsible approach to modern science education.
Indications are that the Nebraska standards, which are underpinned by the theory of evolution, will pass muster without the firestorm the same issue has raised in other states. That says a lot about the sound judgment of the elected board members and the common sense of Nebraskans in general.
In the scientific community, the word “theory” means a well-established explanation for scientific facts. And the theory of evolution is central to biology and other areas of scientific investigation.
Evolutionary theory is a set of complex data and analysis that explain that the diversity of life has emerged over eons of time.
The level-headed, responsible-minded way in which the Nebraska board is approaching this issue stands in contrast to the approach of Kansas officials over the past decade. The Kansans unfortunately sidetracked themselves by arguing that evolution by definition means hostility and opposition to religious faith. Those officials insisted that an alternative called intelligent design (ID) be adopted. The result was a political firestorm.
A particularly cogent response to ID supporters comes from Dr. Francis S. Collins, the thoughtful director of the National Institutes of Health.
Collins is a pioneering geneticist who led the Human Genome Project; his scientific reputation is sterling. At the same time, he is a devout Christian. And he offers an impassioned argument that there need be no conflict between faith and science.
Collins memorably stated in a 2007 interview with the magazine Christianity Today: “God is the author of all truth. You can find him in the laboratory as well as in the cathedral. He’s the God of the Bible; he’s the God of the genome. He did it all.”
In the Kansas situation, an election removed most pro-ID members, and the board put the science back into the state’s science standards. The question isn’t due to be reviewed again until 2014.
Nebraska, too, went through a brief flirtation with ID. In 2002, the board resisted an effort to include the subject in state standards, and four years later, three pro-ID state board candidates were rejected at the polls.
Evolution is the bedrock on which much of modern science is built. Everything from government policy to agricultural biotechnology, medical advances to ethics issues can require an understanding of evolutionary principles and findings.
Jim Woodland, director of science education for the state Department of Education, assessed the situation correctly when he observed: “We’re not getting into what you have to believe, one side or the other. We’re giving you the tools and the content so you can make up your own mind about what’s going on.”
The standards are “appropriately neutral” on philosophical and theological matters, according to Creighton University biology professor Chuck Austerberry. “We just want (students) to learn the science,” he said, “to learn it in a neutral, respectful environment.”
Children who lack a solid background in the fundamentals of modern science can be at a considerable disadvantage. In a hyper-competitive world economy, our country depends on a continuing supply of well-educated, knowledgeable and science-literate young people.
Given the Nebraska Board of Education’s principled stand on science standards, the future will be as progressive as its past.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
