To the editor:
I am writing as a concerned Kansas native in regard to the recent decision by the Kansas Board of Education to allow the teaching of alternatives to the theory of evolution.
I am a proud graduate of Kansas University with a degree in genetics, the University of Minnesota with a Ph.D. in microbiology and am currently performing microbiology research at Princeton University.
To imply that there are any substantial debates regarding evolution among scientists is utterly ridiculous. The evidence for evolution is unequivocal ranging from the fossil record to our knowledge of how genes evolve and the common genetic relatedness of single-celled bacteria all the way to humans.
This decision will have a drastic negative effect on how the rest of the country views science education in Kansas, all the way from grade school through universities like Kansas University and Kansas State University. To the rest of the nation, Kansas is now known, fairly or not, as a state that questions the basic tenants of science in favor of other religious explanations.
This decision unfairly burdens Kansas kids entering the sciences to overcome this negative stereotype. In the 21st century, any state must attract its share of bright scientists and engineers to fuel technological development, and I fear this decision will make it difficult for businesses and universities in Kansas to do just that.
Whereas I once considered moving back to Kansas, I now have serious reservations about raising my two daughters in an educational system that questions evolution.
Chris Waters,
Lawrenceville, N.J.
Comments
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BrianR (anonymous) says…
Yeah, next we're going to sacrifice a small furry animal to the gods so the thunder stops and the crops grow. Yes, the KBOE should be rounded up and shot.
craigers (anonymous) says…
Nobody denies that our genes evolve or change to better suit us for our enviornments, but the complete macroevolution changes that create new species is what is debated and can't be supported.
Jamesaust (anonymous) says…
What part of "unequivocal" do some people not grasp? There is no substantive debate in the scientific community over whether evolution (by any qualifier) is the mechanism by which all life on earth came to exist. Sure, debate rages about the details of that mechanism (gradual change, punctuated equilibrium, etc.). Certainly there's the odd duck (the equivalent of a holocaust-denying historian) with a degree and some doubt about natural selection. This does not a "debate" make however.
blue73harley (anonymous) says…
The only thing that has not evolved is the Kansas Board of Education. They may be the "missing link"?
Kookamooka (MJ Browne) says…
I've lived in Lawrence for nearly 15 years now and the narrow-minded, un-Christian attitudes of the Christian right wing and their infiltrating our secular government, has made me reconsider my residency. I used to write off those hyper-conservative attitudes as the crazy rantings of a few misguided zealots but I now realize, with the re-election of George W. on moral issues, that clear thinking, inclusive and unselfish people are the minority.
waters (anonymous) says…
There is substantive evidence for the evolution of macroorganisms. There are many examples of residual organs or structures in present animals that serve no current purpose but are thought to be left over from our biological ancestors. For example, humans produce goosebumps when cold in an attempt to raise fur we no longer have, or the appendix which was thought to help degrade complex sugars but now serves no known function. I have no problem with scientists coming up with alternative hypotheses to evolution. That is the basis of science. However, none of these alternatives are grounded in any substantive data, compared with the mountains of evidence for evolution. Until such data exist, if ever, they should not be considered in scientific textbooks as a legitimate alternative to evolution.