Academic Standards Public Hearings
Bemidji Academic
Standards Hearing
View Academic Standards and give comments online
Hearing
held on proposed science, social studies standards
Bemidji Pioneer
Friday,
October 03, 2003
By Brad Swenson
Staff Writer, bswenson@bemidjipioneer.com
Proposed science standards should allow more leeway to teach views other than evolution and social studies standards may be too tough for elementary grades, state education officials heard Thursday night.
The evolutionism vs. creationism debate cranked up as state Education Department officials held a public hearing at Bemidji High School on the state’s proposed academic standards for science and social studies.
The standards, of which public comment is being taken until Nov. 1, will be finalized by Education Department citizen’s committees and submitted for approval in February to the Legislature.
Retired Bemidji State University biology Professor Evan Hazard questioned proposed eighth grade and high school life science standards for evolution, saying they should be based on scientific fact and not on unproved theories.
A proposed standard says the “student will understand how evolution provides a scientific explanation for the fossil record of ancient life forms, as well as the striking similarities observed among the diverse species of living organisms.”
But Hazard noted that a benchmark for another standard calls for students to “be able to explain how scientific innovations and new evidence can challenge accepted theories and models, including cell theory, atomic theory, theory of evolution, plate tectonic theory, germ theory of disease, Big Bang theory.”
“It implies that other science explanations may be provided,” Hazard said. “There may be other explanations, but no other science explanations. Things like cell theory are there to distract from evolution and the Big Bang theory as the history of the universe.”
The debate over evolution “is a bone of contention with religious groups but has no place here,” he said.
Several speakers, however, refuted Hazard from among the 70 people who attended the hearing.
Bemidji attorney Tim Tinglestad questioned a seventh-grade life science standard which also said students will “understand how evolution provides a scientific explanation for the fossil record of ancient life forms …”
“This is an important issue, not only of evolution and life science, but the origin of life is a legitimate question,” he said. “The standard either addresses it or should not go there.”
The origin of life and the universe are legitimate science issues for study, he said. “I believe that public schools need to be very careful on this topic. Science is man’s attempt to find truth out of observable facts.”
Both evolutionism and creationism are widely held beliefs, he said.
Tinglestad said he believes in evolution within species, but not between species, but said if schools teach chance and evolution they should also discuss intelligent design.
“Schools don’t need to go into who is the Creator, but are we here by chance or by intelligent design,” he said.
Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke said the U.S. Supreme Court prevents public schools from teaching creationism, or that the species was created by a deity, but does allow a theory of “intelligent design.” It is, however, a local school board decision, she said.
“If a school board approves an addition to evolution, then certainly it is their prerogative,” Yecke said.
Tara Schwinghammer of Bemidji, who said she home schools, said evolution hasn’t been proven. “Give options and let them discover on their own rather than teaching it as fact.”
She was also critical of the typical pictures showing the evolution of man, from a monkey, to an aboriginal, to a black-like person, to a Hispanic-like person and finally a white-like person. “I’m insulted by that,” she said.
Dr. Kion Hoffman of Deer River said that “the order of the universe comes by design” and that “the origin is not science.”
Yecke, in an interview, said the debate has arisen at each public hearing, sometimes becoming the key issue.
“In some communities it has been the main topic of discussion, in other communities it has been much more low key,” she said. “The document as written does provide the option for some discussion of theories other than the theory of evolution.”
The standards committee wants to ensure that evolution is taught as a theory but also that students should be able to, at school board discretion, to discuss other things in addition to that, Yecke said. “This will be a local school board decision.”
Too complex?
Several educators also questions social studies standards proposed at the grade school level, saying they are too comprehensive and may be too hard for students to comprehend.
The K-5 standards “are totally unrealistic,” said Park Rapids High School Principal Gary Gauldin. “If they were in place when I went to school, I would never have got out of Arkansas.”
Sandy Aldridge, a Park Rapids civics teacher, said a fourth-grade standard requires students to know about 17th century philosopher John Locke and fifth-graders to know about bias in political cartoons.
“They are not age appropriate,” she said.
World history standards at the K-5 level are also new, said Carol Grimes, a Northern Elementary School fifth-grade teacher. “That may be beyond their comprehension. That content can be better served at a higher level, such as middle school.”
Cass Lake teacher Nancy Benson agreed, saying that elementary school students have a hard enough time learning to read. “Do we teach science and social studies or teach them to read?”
Dave Benson noted that 8-year-olds would be required to know the history of the Roman Empire and the fall of Pompeii by volcano. “If we force our children to master these concepts at this level, there will be a lot of fallout.”
Yecke, in the interview, said the standards is now a working document and that the committee will work to slim it down, taking in consideration the public comments.
“We have also heard parents saying thank you for providing a higher level of rigor, that their children are capable of doing more than they are currently being asked,” she said.
Schwinghammer told the half dozen committee members who attended the hearing that students need to be more challenged, and that her home-schooling heavily depends upon the computer.
“Give some options for the intelligent kids,” she said. “Don’t stop at the standards. We’re spoon feeding our children and not giving them the ability to tie things together.”
More inclusion
Several people also testified that the standards lack cultural diversity, that more attention needs to be focused on minority issues.
For instance, American history lacks depth on coverage of American Indians.
“There is a lack of inclusion for the Dakota and the Anishinabe,” said Joe Day, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council. “The history of this country started long before white people got here.”
The standards also involve various forms of government -- federal, state, county, city and township -- yet don’t even mention tribal government, Day said. “The more we learn about each other, the better for the community.”
What facts are taught are weak, said Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig Principal Henry Flocken. Texts talk of Pocahontas and Sacagawea but not of the Indian chief Pontiac or why Chief Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig was assassinated.
“It is the Walt Disney approach to American history,” he said. “It is old-school history, white, male, Protestant again.”
Bemidji parent Cheryl Byers said “false history” was being taught, which has “marginalized” her children of American Indian descent. For instance, she said a text said American Indian difficulties stem from federal policy after World War II.
“I want to know who is determining the facts,” she said. “And where are the women or the black contributions to American history. Be more inclusive.”
Yecke, in the interview, said that while American Indians constitute only 1 percent of the state’s population, “for the state, this is part of our heritage, this is part of our culture.”
She noted the
standards committee contains several American Indian members, and said
testimony given Thursday night was “given very respectfully and I am
certain the committee will be looking at strengthening the standards on
native Americans.”
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