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William Paley Institute
for
Intelligent Design™ |
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A Statement of Support for the Kansas Board of
Education's Decision To Adopt New Science Standards for K-12
Students in Kansas
American Association for the Advancement of Science
National Academy of Sciences
National Research Council
National Science Teachers Association
February 14, 2001
Our organizations join together to applaud the Kansas State
Board of Education for its courageous decision to overturn the
actions of the previous Board and reinstate the study of the
origins of life and the cosmos to the state science
standards.* We commend the members of the team that prepared
the science standards both for their collective decision to
disavow the revised standards that were accepted by the
previous board and for their continued work to prepare the
latest version that the Board of Education has just adopted.
We especially applaud the actions of the citizens of Kansas,
who debated the previous Board's decision and then elected
members to the Board who had declared publicly their intention
to reinstate these critical scientific ideas to their science
standards.
Students in Kansas once again will have the opportunities to
explore and understand what have become important foundations
of modern life, earth, and physical sciences and will be
better prepared to be productive members of our increasingly
scientific and technological world.
Our examination of the recently approved science standards has
convinced us that this document embraces modern science and is
consistent with national efforts to improve science education.
These standards can and should serve as a model for other
states that are considering revising their own standards. We
are pleased and enthusiastic in now granting copyright
permission to reference or use text from our documents in the
Kansas Science Education Standards.
Mary Good
President
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Bruce Alberts
President
National Academy of Sciences
(and on behalf of the members of the
Council of the National Academy of Sciences)
Arthur Eisenkraft
President
National Science Teachers Association
*By way of background, we provide this recap of the matter: On
September 23, 1999 the Presidents of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science and the National Science
Teachers Association, and the Chair of the National Research
Council issued a joint statement denying the Kansas State
Board of Education copyright permission to reference or use
text from our documents in Kansas' revised science standards.
Our decision was based on the previous Board's decision to
approve science standards from which topics related to the
origins and evolution of the cosmos, earth, and life on earth
had been removed or substantively revised. A copy of that
statement is appended.
Our response to the actions by the majority of members of the
Board of Education was one of many voices of protest that
arose from the education and scientific communities. Those
protests emphasized that studying the origins and evolution of
the physical and biological universe has long been an accepted
and respected component of scientific investigation. Based on
compelling evidence, the overwhelming majority of scientists
and science educators accept evolution as the most reasonable
explanation for the current diversity of life on earth and the
set of processes that has led to this diversity. Scientists
and theologians also agree that scientific and religious
explanations for the evolution of the earth and life on this
planet are not incompatible. By removing critical and
well-accepted scientific explanations for the origins and
changes in the living and physical worlds from the state
science standards, students in Kansas would have been denied
opportunities to explore and understand what have become
important foundations of modern life, earth, and physical
sciences.
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Promoting an
Understanding of the Intelligent Design of the Universe
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