Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Kansas Academy of Science Statement
Liz Craig of Kansas Citizens for Science sends along this statement by Mike Everhart President of the Kansas Academy of Science to the Science Standards Writing Committee hearing held in Derby on Feb. 10.
"... I would like to convey to the panel that the Kansas Academy of Science strongly supports the draft of the 2004-2005 Science Standards as written. The KAS does not support changes that would involve inserting non-scientific dogma into the teaching of science in our public schools...
"The theory of evolution is open to scientific examination and criticism. It has been reviewed and discussed by scientists since it was first proposed, and has continuously been modified by new data. Science is based on propositions that are open to being disproved on the basis of better information. If there is an alternative, valid scientific explanation for this process, then it should be presented in a scientific forum and be open to rigorous examination by others...
"The public school system is not that forum. The religious concepts of creationism and intelligent design have no scientific basis. They are beliefs, not testable theories, and are not science. They have no place in the science standards adopted for thepublic school system in Kansas."
"... I would like to convey to the panel that the Kansas Academy of Science strongly supports the draft of the 2004-2005 Science Standards as written. The KAS does not support changes that would involve inserting non-scientific dogma into the teaching of science in our public schools...
"The theory of evolution is open to scientific examination and criticism. It has been reviewed and discussed by scientists since it was first proposed, and has continuously been modified by new data. Science is based on propositions that are open to being disproved on the basis of better information. If there is an alternative, valid scientific explanation for this process, then it should be presented in a scientific forum and be open to rigorous examination by others...
"The public school system is not that forum. The religious concepts of creationism and intelligent design have no scientific basis. They are beliefs, not testable theories, and are not science. They have no place in the science standards adopted for thepublic school system in Kansas."
