Intelligent Design
Texas Science Standards Debate Is About Darwinian Evolution, not Intelligent Design
Science standards review processes always seem to send Darwinists into a misinformation flurry. The current review of Texas’ standards is no exception. Josh Rosenau has a post up yesterday attacking Casey Luskin that has a number of errors. Josh is in elite company, as these are the very same errors that spread like the flu through the MSM last spring. At that time we reported how the New York Times and Washington Post, among others, were misreporting the facts about “strengths and weaknesses” language in the Texas science standards.
Now Josh writes:
At issue is a Disco.-inspired standard in the older TEKS which requires teachers to have students “analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information” (my emphasis).
I corrected this back in June:
Let’s review. In 1998, the Texas Board of Education adopted the current set of science standards calling on students “to analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information.” You can read the standards for yourself here.
As for claims that we try to get intelligent design into the curriculum, that’s just not the case. Our science education policy is very clear. In November of 2003 Discovery Institute issued a Q&A that stated:
Does Discovery Institute advocate requiring intelligent design theory in textbooks as an alternative?
Absolutely not. We are NOT seeking to have intelligent design included in textbooks or in classroom instruction. We only want factual errors corrected and legitimate scientific weaknesses of neo-Darwinism presented.
Darwinists are fond of trying to change the subject from teaching the case for and against Darwinian evolution, and make this a debate over whether or not to include intelligent design in the curriculum. That isn’t the issue.