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Show Page A16 THH DAILY HI RALD, Provo. l lah. Sunday September 19, lm Politics played role in Kansas We discussed last week the current educational controversies in Kansas how the official writing committee's standards for science education in the public schools were substantially by the State School Board to conform to their personal religious con- SCIENCE & SOCIETY victions. The State School Board (SSB) is an elected body. A effort to elect fundamentalist Christians to the board paid off at the last election. Those citizens now hold a 6:4 majority on the board. And since Kansas needed a uniform curriculum, a statement of standards for what students in the public schools should learn about science, a writing committee was chosen and charged. Each SSB member was permitted to appoint one person to the writing committee a free, virtually automatic and unchallenged, appointment. The state superintendent of education, after consultation with educators and politicos in the state, then filled out the committee of 27 members. 10-ye- AFTER AN exhaustive review of standards of other states and from national organizations, the committee produced its first draft and sent it to a broad selection of the scientific community in the state: teachers, district superintendents, university personnel and members of industry. From this input they then did revisions extensive refinements which affected virtually every "standard" they had developed. Their second draft was sent to professional DUANE JEFFERY consultants all across the nation. That input led to a third draft; it was distributed to school districts all over the state, with media announcements soliciting public input. A state-widseries of was held, with committee members present to get public suggestions. This resulted in the fourth draft, which was submitted to the SSB for their review before doing a final draft. It quickly became evident that the SSB majority intended to make the document reflect their religious doctrines as far as the laws allow. town-meetin- e INDEED, A creationist veterinarian, apparently the only person on the SSB with any scientific training at all, formally moved to have the SSB scrap the writing committee's work altogether and instead adopt a document he had prepared in conjunction with a Midwestern creationist organization. He called this "Draft 4A" with no authors identified, thus hiding its origins from public view. The rest of the SSB apparently felt this was just a bit too much, so settled for directing v f the writing committee to accommodate their religiously-base- 7 views. The committee did Lou Reeves 225-SS3- 3 375-510- Sprirtgville Ted l cj 4 t' V, 224-J- - . , North Orem, Provo, 489-664- 0 785-290- 7 375-691- 4 mm to Glen 78S-12S- S Pleasant Grove, Make sure the house is covered. 785-835- 3 BUT THEN the SSB majority went to work, deleting all material about the earth being old or having drifting continents and tectonic plates and developing Kansas' marvelous Joam Adams 756-3SG- 3 American f ork, 756-910- 6 soils. Gone were all references to an old universe or to biological evolution and development of species. And it was all done by a 6:4 vote, strictly along religious, not scientific or professional, lines. The governor was highly upset by this perceived abuse of public trust. Kansas" schools, after all, are public, not sectarian. But nonetheless, Kansas teachers have begun their school year with a high degree of controversy in matters of curriculum and the criteria by which it should be determined. To what entity their profession, their students, or the SSB, do they owe their highest allegiance? rajd0 489-664- 0 i CltrtWalbMn wook I 8) un d their best but they all have science backgrounds and a pretty competent feel for what is reasonably established by science and what is not. They the docucarefully ment and submitted Draft 5 as their final product to the SSB. It should be noted that all five drafts had received uniform support of ALL members of the writing committee including those originally appointed by the individual SSB members. No draft had any dissenting votes from committee members; the work was that thorough. And the document is about 80 pages long. t For life Insurance mortgage protection-Bein- g in good hands is the only place to be.1 1 Illinois. 1996 Allstate Insurance Company, Northbrook, Oret Smth 37S421S Lima WiHmari Other terms, conditions and exclusions may apply. 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