The Texas Board of Education hearings on science curriculum have now concluded, and while the pro-science side did get some of the worst anti-evolution stuff out of the standards, the creationists on the board also managed to pass several amendments that will allow them to pressure textbook authors into including pseudoscience—which will undoubtedly lead to lawsuits from parents who object to their children being indoctrinated with fundamentalist religion, and end up costing the state of Texas both in money and in credibility.

Steve Schafersman live-blogged the whole mess today, and here he sums up the situation:

What is the bottom line? Did we win or lose? Neither. We got rid of the worst language, but a great deal of qualifying language remains. I am not going to claim either victory or defeat. I realize that Casey Luskin of Discovery Institute will declare complete, unqualified victory, but it is not that for them. Neither is it for us. The standards adopted were generally good, but there are several that are flawed, fortunately most in minor ways that textbook authors and publishers can deal with. I think we can work around the few flawed standards. But the point is that there shouldn’t be ANY flawed standards. The science standards as submitted by the science writing teams were excellent and flaw-free. All the flaws were added by politically unscrupulous SBOE members with an extreme right-wing religious agenda to support Creationism.

This will become apparent in 2011 when the Biology textbooks come up for adoption. Rule 3A and several other poor amendments in Biology—all the contribution of SBOE members who know nothing about science but a lot about pseudoscience—will be used to attack Biology textbooks. Cynthia Dunbar said so: “All we need is Rule 3A as now written and we have everything we want” (I am paraphrasing, but she said this in so many words). Gentle Readers, this is not the way to develop educational policy in one of the most wealthy and powerful state in the most wealthy and powerful country in the world in the 21st century. The process you just experienced, by reading my live blog columns, was deplorable and should be deeply embarrassing to every Texas citizen.

The policy (science standards) that resulted are not the best they could be. They are acceptable but could have been pseudoscience- and Creationism influence-free. However, I can also say the standards could be much worse. The votes were so close, and several members switched their votes back and forth several times, sometimes voting with the antiscience radical right wing members and sometimes with the pro-science members, that anything could have happened. I suppose I should be grateful the results are not worse.

I remain astounded that this is an issue in the 21st century, and that 83 years after the Scopes Monkey Trial there are still people whose attitude is expressed in statements like this: “My grandfather was not a monkey!”

UPDATE at 3/27/09 2:42:26 pm:

Steve Schafersman’s prediction comes true; the Discovery Institute is crowing about their “huge victory:”

TEXAS NOW LEADS NATION IN REQUIRING CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF EVOLUTION IN HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE CLASSES

Austin, TX – In a huge victory for those who favor teaching the scientific evidence for and against evolution, Texas today moved to the head of the class by requiring students to “critique” and examine “all sides of scientific evidence” and specifically requiring students to “analyze and evaluate” the evidence for major evolutionary concepts such as common ancestry, natural selection, and mutations.

“Texas has sent a clear message that evolution should be taught as a scientific theory open to critical scrutiny, not as a sacred dogma that can’t be questioned,” said Dr. John West, Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute. “Contrary to the claims of the evolution lobby, absolutely nothing the Board did promotes ‘creationism’ or religion in the classroom. Groups that assert otherwise are lying, plain and simple. Under the new standards, students will be expected to analyze and evaluate the scientific evidence for evolution, not religion. Period.”

The new requirements were contained in revised science standards approved today by the Texas State Board of Education. The science standards include language requiring students to “analyze, evaluate and critique scientific explanations…including examining all sides of scientific evidence… so as to encourage critical thinking by the student.” Equally important, the high school biology standards now require students to “analyze and evaluate” the scientific evidence for key parts of evolutionary theory, including common ancestry, natural selection, and mutations.

Discovery Institute has long endorsed the idea that evolution should be fully and completely presented to students, including its unresolved issues.

Absolutely pathetic.