Evolution Is Optional
August 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
The Texas Education Agency has approved the expansion of an online charter school that allows students to skip lessons on evolution, the Observer has learned. With the addition of several new regions (Corpus Christi, Austin, and San Antonio), the Texas Virtual Academy at Southwest now can enroll up to 1,500 students in the eastern half of Texas for grades K-8.
The school, which receives public funding and operates under state rules, uses a curriculum developed by K12 Inc, a publicly traded company co-founded by Bill Bennett, the conservative former secretary of education and drug czar. (Bennett served as the chairman of K12 Inc. until 2005, when he stepped down over remarks he made suggesting that aborting black babies would reduce the crime rate.)
According to K12 and the Virtual Academy’s Web site, learning evolution is optional:
How does K¹² teach Evolution?
The concepts of evolution and creationism do not come up in grades K-2. In later grades, we teach evolution as a theory broadly accepted in the scientific community as an organizing theory of biology. We believe that a complete education includes understanding the basics of what this theory is about, even if one disagrees with it. K¹² emphasizes that parents have every right to explain to their children why they do or do not accept the theory and what they believe instead, including the concept of creationism. If parents aren’t interested in any teachings surrounding the theory of evolution, they can skip these lessons.
Online schools often cater to homeschooling parents, many of whom are Christian conservatives who believe in creationism. The Virtual Academy appears to be marketing its evolution-optional policy as a selling point. Nonetheless, the Texas Virtual Academy receives public funding and must abide by Texas’ education standards known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). It’s the law. The TEKS require that each “student knows the theory of biological evolution.”
“Parents could opt out of those classes but their child is still held responsible for learning the curriculum,” said TEA spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe. “[T]hey need to do so with the understanding that their child could still be tested over that material.”
She said she’s never heard of a public school advertising an opt-out policy for evolution.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
This is a reversal of position for Bennett. When he was Secretary of Education, he wrote that knowledge of evolution was essential to a good education in the public schools, especially in his proposed ideal curriculum for a public high school, James Madison High School. I remember, because I was the director of the group that published the book, and my staff had to defend Bennett’s position.
Why is Bill Bennett going lax on education? The story of how he caved in to pleas for lax academics will not make the collection of stories of virtue for the 21st century.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Hey Ed,
Maybe you should do your homework…Bennett is no longer officially associated with K12. He may have had his own ideas of what was necessary in high school but when it comes to homeschooling are you honestly so dense as to think that creationist parents will willfully teach evolution? Evolution is included in the curriculum bc Bennett and the K12 creators know it to be critical. But this starts in the home with the parents. If a parent does not opt out of teaching evolution then it will be taught. So save your cliche comments about Bennett and virtue. The guy wrote a book that inspired people to act better, is that really such a crime to you? Does that mean he thought he was without flaw? I doubt it. So chill out, get a life.
August 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am
This on-line charter school is often used in home-schooling, where there is no way to enforce a requirement that students learn about evolution.
–“Parents could opt out of those classes but their child is still held responsible for learning the curriculum,” said TEA spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe. “[T]hey need to do so with the understanding that their child could still be tested over that material.”–
The charter school’s website’s statement about evolution should carry that warning but does not. Parents who skip the evolution lessons should know that they are taking a big risk — for example, the College Board’s tests on biology ask a lot of questions about evolution.
–”we teach evolution as a theory broadly accepted in the scientific community as an organizing theory of biology.”–
The idea that evolution is “an organizing theory of biology” or is “central to biology” is just plain wrong — there are lots of things in biology where evolution is irrelevant. One can be a great biologist without knowing anything about evolution (though there are some areas of biology where a knowledge of evolution is necessary — e.g., cladistic taxonomy).
August 17th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Ed writes:
Although Steven’s right that Bennett may not have been involved in deciding this position by K12, the more fundamental reversal of position came when Bennett switch from being a critic of virtual education as a substitute for live, in person, education to being an entrepreneur cashing in on the opportunity.
Still not a virtue, in my book.
August 19th, 2008 at 7:35 am
Anything that is related to religion should not be taught ihn public schools period.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
[…] Funded School Doesn’t Require Evolution The Texas Observer Reports: Online schools often cater to homeschooling parents, many of whom are Christian conservatives who […]
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I am a TXVA parent. I am also a Texas Observer subscriber. I was very upset when I read this article. My middleschooler has been enrolled at TXVA since the day they were allowed to set up in Texas and I was unaware that this was going on. One of the reasons I left the public school system was to escape Cristian fascist loons like Lisa Crabtree. I feel sorry for Lisa’s children though. They are doomed to live a life of ignorance,fear and hate. I have had the opportunity to personally meet many of the parents enrolled at TXVA at community building functions sponsored by the school. Parents I have met have come from different cultural and religious backgrounds. Everyone I have met has been open and accepting of others. I am here to tell you that Lisa is the exception and not the rule at TXVA. I am very happy with the curriculum of TXVA, especially science, which is quite progressive and reviews evolution throughout the different sciences - not only biology but earth science as well. In order to do well scholasticaly at TXVA students must have a strong command of the different subjects. Tests are not optional. So, if Lisa puts her children to the test with blinders on, then that will be reflected in her children’s scores.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Just FYI…in light of this….you might want to check out a hot meeting scheduled this week in Austin. The Board of Education will be wrangling with science standards–notably the C3A standards which focus on the “process skills” relating to learning about evolution.
The Board meeting is at: 9 a.m., Wednesday, 1/19, Room 1-104 of the TEA building, 1701 N. Congress, Austin, TX. I have a feeling the preliminary stuff will take a few hours…the public hearing part should get underway around noon.
Note: there will be a live audio feed of the hearing. Go to the Texas Education Agency Web site (http://www.tea.state.tx.us/) tomorrow, click on State Board of Education link in the left column. Then scroll down to find the link to the live audio feed. Keep in mind that the number of folks who can link is limited because of server limitations at TEA. But if you have trouble linking to the feed, keep trying every once in a while.
–Robert Luhn, National Center for Science Education