Evolution is the standard theory taught in public schools
throughout the country to explain how organisms change, and while
there are no plans to change that, there are some in the Hollister
religious community who feel that intelligent design has a place in
public classrooms.
Hollister – Evolution is the standard theory taught in public schools throughout the country to explain how organisms change, and while there are no plans to change that, there are some in the Hollister religious community who feel that intelligent design has a place in public classrooms.
A debate on the role of God in the classroom was touched off anew on August 1, when President George Bush said students should learn about both theories. Intelligent design asserts that the level of complexity in the biological world can only be explained by the direction of an intelligent designer. Evolution is a theory which asserts that biological organisms change over time as a result of natural selection.
Curriculum and content standards for public schools, adopted by the California Department of Education, make no mention of intelligent design or the debate surrounding the theory of evolution, and changes in the curriculum are unlikely to come at the local level in Hollister, district and county officials said.
“We’re satisfied with the job we’re doing teaching science in our schools,” County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley said. “In our private lives we can all pursue whatever explanations we feel, but in our public school classrooms we must teach the best science that we know.”
Intelligent design is being taught in private institutions that set their own rules about what is appropriate in the class room. Walt Lindquist, School Administrator of Calvary Christian School in Hollister, believes students should be able to learn about both theories regardless of whether they attend public or private school, he said.
“We do have a lot of scientific proof that creation did take place,” he said. “I think there should be a balance, evolution shouldn’t be the only theory taught. Students should at least be aware that creationism is a viable alternative.”
Local public school teachers teacher are required to teach state standards, but some have said that intelligent design occasionally surfaces while discussing evolution.
Geri Bonvie, a seventh grade science teacher at Marguerite Maze Middle School, teaches evolution every year because it is required by the state.
“I teach evolution because it is part of the California State Science Standards for seventh grade,” Bonvie said. “I do not teach intelligent design because it is not part of the California State Science Standards.”
She teaches evolution as a scientific theory, but if a curious student broaches the subject of a creator being responsible for evolution, Bonvie refers the student to his or her parents or clergy members, she said.
San Benito High School teacher and Social Science Chairperson Chuck Schallhorn has followed the debate between the competing explanations for the origin of life even though he doesn’t teach science. Schallhorn is open to discussing both theories with students, but said he requires conversations which focus on personal views to take place after class.
“There’s nothing wrong with intelligent design as an idea, but it is not a science,” Schallhorn said. “It’s not an appropriate class topic, but I am willing to talk with students after class.”
Many members of Hollister’s religious community feel intelligent design and the debate surrounding the two explanations should be taught in public school science classrooms.
Jim Achilles, senior pastor at Grace Bible Church of Hollister, is one who believes students need to learn both theories. He criticized evolution for not being able to provide a scientific explanation for the existence of life and several other weaknesses.
Achilles, who has a master’s degree in divinity, also pointed out that intelligent design does not attempt to promote a specific “designer,” but rather to provide an alternative theory – one that is firmly supported by scientific evidence, he said.
“Teaching intelligent design is about academic freedom, about good science, about looking at things objectively, and allowing students to think for themselves,” Achilles said in an e-mail. “Rather than forcing them to accept a system that violates known laws of science.”
Robert Vrijenhoek, former editor of the international journal “Evolution” and an adjunct faculty member at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has spent the last three decades studying as an evolutionary biologist and has come to a very different conclusion about the theory of evolution. Vrijenhoek, who is also a professor emeritus at Rutgers University, said the debate between intelligent design and evolution was nothing new.
“(Intelligent design) peddles a bunch of old ideas clad in new clothes,” Vrijenhoek said. “It’s criminally mischievous the way it is portrayed as science.”
However, Vrijenhoek believes intelligent design theory can be taught in public schools, but just not in the science classroom. Unlike President Bush, Vrijenhoek does not believe the two should be taught side-by-side in the science classroom.
“One is religion and the other is a science,” he said. “However, intelligent design could be taught in a philosophy class.”
Although intelligent design is not taught in Hollister’s public schools, County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley said curriculum standards are determined by school boards. That means local school boards have the power to vote and change science curriculum to include intelligent design, he said. However, the issue hasn’t come up here, Foley said.
Local school board members agree. Hollister School District Board of Trustees President Margie Barrios said the issue had not been brought to her attention and board members were not discussing any changes to current science curriculum in regards to evolution.
“Whatever the state mandates is what Hollister School District will teach,” Barrios said.
Jean Burns Slater, superintendent of San Benito High School District, also said the debate had not been brought up. She knows the debate has made headlines in Kansas, but said the district’s Board of Trustees in not considering changing curriculum to incorporate intelligent design.
A move to change curriculum standards at the state level, which would require approval by the California Department of Education, is also unexpected, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said.
“In California’s academic standards for science are based on sound scientific theory and research. I am disappointed that the president has suggested that nonscientific viewpoints should be included in curriculum,” O’Connell wrote in an e-mail. “Just like I will fight tooth and nail to protect California’s high academic standards, I will fight to ensure that sound science is protected in California classrooms.”
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected]
