Homework Assignment: Understanding Evolution

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Background information: Why are we doing this?

The Florida Department of Education coordinated the revision of the state's science standards for public schools this year. A draft of the standards was available for public review through mid-December. Based on that input, the draft's writers then made some changes and finally produced a final product that will be presented to the state Board of Education. It will then be up to the BoE on Feb. 19 to vote to accept the revised standards to replace the old 1996 standards.

As soon as the draft standards were released to the public, the fact that evolution is fully integrated into the life sciences caused a stir in the media and public. The 1996 standards don't mention the word evolution, whereas the new draft does so prominently. There is widespread opposition to the teaching of evolution in public schools across the nation, and Florida is not excluded from this fervor. This has led to a determined outcry, as can be seen in newspaper articles, letters to the editor, posts to online forums, and even announcements by some school officials. (Take a moment to browse through our blog for several examples.)

Savvy anti-evolutionists know that the state BoE has the final say on whether the draft science standards, with evolution included, will be implemented. We are aware that BoE members are being inundated by anti-evolution messages via phone, mail and e-mail. It's important to counteract this negative influence. We need to make sure the BoE understands the value of teaching evolution, and that other supposed theories, such as intelligent design, have no scientific merit.

You can view the proposed state science standards at the Office of Mathematics and Science website.