Leave no child behind

SETI Thursday's feature article is a piece urging that evolution be included in the science standards of all 50 states.

Human evolution is included in the National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy, our national statements of the fundamental science concepts for grades K-12. The Standards and Benchmarks describe the basics for scientifically literate citizens. At the state level, politics overtake science education. Human evolution is included in only 8% of the state science standards, and is therefore not required in almost all American elementary, middle or high school science courses. ("The Emphasis Given to Evolution in State Science Standards: A lever for Change in Evolution Education?" Gerald Skoog, Kimberly Bilica, 2002) The evolution of the universe, our solar system, and our planet fare somewhat better, but still do not appear in almost half of the states’ science standards. These standards drive the content of textbooks and state achievement tests, and learning about evolution is getting left out.

Evolution is fundamental to modern biology, geology and astronomy. Ignoring or discarding fundamental scientific understandings of the natural world does not prepare our children well for the future. As America strives to "leave no child behind," it’s time that evolution is not left behind in our science classrooms.

I have a problem with the lack of precision in some of these articles. In this one, I object to the way the word "evolution" winds up lumping the history of the planet, of the solar system, and of living things together in one package. This makes it easier for anti-science types to set up a straw-man argument of first equating the three systems and then showing that they are not the same. But that's a problem with pedagogic technique, not with science.

In the end, whether the students and the teachers decide they "believe in" evolution or not, the subject needs to be taught, and taught well. As entrenched as it is in biological science, if it's going to be overturned at this point in the game, it will be overturned only by people who know what scientists think evolution means.

It will not be overturned by ignorant people standing around the sidelines, asking questions equivalent to, "Can evolution make a rock so heavy it can't lift it?"

And of course, if it's right, it needs to be included is part of science classes.