From Mr P. Garner, MIInfSc
SIR, — "Onlooker" has not got his facts straight about the recent "evolution" decision of the Kansas board of education (PJ, September 11, p368). In mid 1999 the 10-member board voted to omit macroevolution from school assessment tests. Whatever one thinks of this decision, they did not "forbid the discussion in the classroom" of evolutionary theory as "Onlooker" claims, neither did they mandate the teaching of creationist theory. Nevertheless, "Onlooker" is right to point out that the decision has caused "considerable consternation". Apocalyptic statements from various members of the evolutionary establishment have predicted the collapse of the Kansas economy, while others have said that the board’s decision heralds the end of free thought in the state. Some commentators have called it a "medieval" decision that sets Kansas back 100 years and makes it a laughing stock in our age of enlightenment. It all sounds a bit over the top to me. Besides, even if the evidence for and against evolutionary theory were to be presented side by side in Kansas classrooms, what would be so bad about that? I thought science was all about debate and testing competing hypotheses. A scientific theory that cannot survive scrutiny by schoolchildren must be in a parlous state. Surely, it is those who want to protect evolutionary theory from any possible criticism who are advancing their own "dogma" and opposing genuine, open inquiry?
Paul Garner
Ely, Cambridgeshire