2009-02-03-皮尤-Fighting_Over_Darwin,_State_by_State_6页_186kb

Darwin Debate Continues State by State

The debate over teaching evolution in public schools remains prominent, with legislative and policy actions occurring across numerous states.

Key Findings:

1. Landmark Decisions & Current Trends: Supreme Court rulings banned outright bans on evolution and creationism in public schools. More recently, debates have focused on measures that encourage questioning scientific theories in the classroom, such as allowing teachers to assign supplemental materials for reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories (e.g., in Louisiana and Tennessee). Similar bills were introduced but didn’t pass in states like Colorado and Florida.

2. Maine's Educational Board: In a significant vote, Maine's Board of Education decided to remove biological evolution from its science standards, marking a departure from previous guidelines.

3. State-Level Legislation:

   • Texas: Recently approved new biology standards emphasizing evolution, prohibiting the teaching of any theory of origin other than evolution, including intelligent design and creationism.
   • Louisiana: Enacted the Louisiana Science Education Act in 2008, enabling teachers and school boards to add supplemental materials that objectively analyze scientific theories. A 2014 ACLU lawsuit contests the law's use in a particular school district to promote religion. A state law from 1976 allows teaching the biblical creation alongside evolution, though usage is variable.

State Actions on Education Standards & Biological Evolution Teaching:

• Florida: Revised standards to formally require evolution instruction, although phrasing concerning "theory" drew criticism.
• Georgia: Cobb County initially added stickers questioning evolution’s status as a "fact" citing religious origins; a federal judge ruled this religion-based sticker use unconstitutional. Lawsuit settled. Repeated attempts to revisit creation-evolution education through legislative means.
• Kansas: Multiple revisions since 1999, notably adopting Next Generation Science Standards which explicitly reference empirical evidence for common ancestry and evolution in 2013.
• Michigan: Revised science standards in 2006 allowing evolution teaching but banning intelligent design and creation science, with clearer language supporting evolution using lines of evidence.
• Pennsylvania: Dover School Board initially required intelligent design discussion, lost in court. New standards require critically analyzing evolutionary theory using scientific data.
• Tennessee: Enacted Act 94 in 2012 allowing the teaching of scientific weaknesses but facing criticism as enabling creationism.
• Wisconsin: Grantsburg School Board became the first to include "origins theories," clarifying focus remains on evolution weaknesses, not creationism.

Overall Summary:
Despite Supreme Court decisions precluding creationism/evolution bans, state governments maintain significant authority to shape science education policy related to evolution. Debates often center on academic freedom, scientific integrity, and Establishment Clause concerns. Specific actions vary widely by state, with some broadening course standards to define evolution's place, others spreading controversy through legislative allowances for "strengths and weaknesses" reviews or by omitting evolution entirely.