This Story sent in from a reader in Oklahoma.
It was survival of the fittest textbook Friday as the
Oklahoma Textbook Committee rejected five of 16 science books because
of the way the theory of evolution
was presented and other issues.
With split votes each time, the committee rejected \”Fearson\’s Biology,\”
\”Biology Principles and Exploration,\”
\”Holt Biology: Visualizing Life,\” \”Asking About Life\” and \”Biology: The Living Science\” on the basis that they
contained either inaccurate or noncurrent information. The committee
adopted the remaining 11 textbooks.
This Story sent in from a reader in Oklahoma.
It was survival of the fittest textbook Friday as the
Oklahoma Textbook Committee rejected five of 16 science books because
of the way the theory of evolution
was presented and other issues.
With split votes each time, the committee rejected \”Fearson\’s Biology,\”
\”Biology Principles and Exploration,\”
\”Holt Biology: Visualizing Life,\” \”Asking About Life\” and \”Biology: The Living Science\” on the basis that they
contained either inaccurate or noncurrent information. The committee
adopted the remaining 11 textbooks.
Adoption of the 16 textbooks had
been on hold since November, when
the committee required that disclaimers be placed on the books stating
that evolution was a \”controversial
theory\” and urging students to keep
an open mind concerning the issue.
However, Attorney General Drew
Edmondson said last month that the
committee had no legal authority to
require such disclaimers and that the
panel had also violated the state\’s
open meeting act by failing to include
the item on its posted agenda.
The battle lines on the issue
were clearly delineated Friday
when two committee members
read opposing statements.
\”We are not here to debate
the theory of evolution,\” said
committee member Laura Dobson, an instructor at Roosevelt
Elementary School in Ponca
City. But Dodson went on to
quote two books indicating that
scientists have varying opinions
on the theory of evolution and
question whether there is any
evidence for macroevolution, the
idea that a species can evolve into another species.
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