SC Education Committee Votes to Weaken Evolution
Remember Mike Fair, the South Carolina state senator who tried to prevent the mammoth from being named the state fossil unless it had Biblical language in the proclamation? Well he’s back and still trying anything he can to undermine the validity of evolution as taught in schools.
South Carolina’s current standards require that students “demonstrate an understanding of biological evolution and the diversity of life,” including exemplifying “scientific evidence in the fields of anatomy, embryology, biochemistry, and paleontology that underlies the theory of biological evolution” and summarizing “ways that scientists use data from a variety of sources to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory.” Even this was too much for State Senator Mike Fair (R), a member of the Oversight Committee and joint panel, who proposed that the state should teach “Darwinian natural selection” as a theory rather than a fact. His initial proposal would have required teachers to “teach the controversy” about evolution and forced students to construct arguments both in support and against it.
