Student group says don't change science curriculum

November 20, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter MAT-SU -Mat-Su Chief School Administrator Bob Doyle said discussion over whether to teach the controversial “intelligent design” theory in Valley public schools is premature.

Doyle addressed the Mat-Su School Board Wednesday on what has become an issue for many school boards nationwide as they decide whether allowing challenges to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by postulating an intelligent designer is acceptable in public education.

In response to a question by board member Larry DeVilbiss about where the school district stands on intelligent design, Doyle said the district needs to first finish aligning its basic curriculum to fit state standards before considering ways to expand courses.

“The state standards have not addressed intelligent design,” Doyle said, adding that once the district has its minimum requirements in place, ways of enriching the curriculum so it reflects the concerns of Mat-Su residents can be considered.

Last month, the school board approved standards for math, language arts, music, P.E., social studies, visual arts and world languages. In January, the board is expected to approve the final two components in science and health. At that point, Doyle said discussions over intelligent design and other curriculum topics like Colony history and Native traditions would be appropriate.

“The next process will be a timetable for the board to begin the dialogue, here in the community, to say ‘what does Mat-Su want to do above and beyond the state standards?'” Doyle ex-plained. “That is when we would bring all of the stakeholders together - members of the community, our students, our parents, our teachers, our clergy. ...”

Doyle's comments followed an address by Kenni Psenak, the school board's student representative.

Psenak told the board that she brought the issue of intelligent design to her fellow Student Advisory Council members earlier in the day for their consideration.

“Intelligent design is, possibly, at some future time going to be discussed, and so I thought it was my job and my responsibility to poll the consensus and the views of the Student Advisory Board on where they stand on that,” Psenak explained, before reading the student council's official position on intelligent design, which states, “Intelligent design shall be addressed in the social studies department, if it is addressed at all.”

According to Psenak, the student council neither favors nor opposes teaching intelligent design, which holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by some kind of designer. Psenak said students do oppose teaching intelligent design in science class, though.

“They say intelligent design doesn't meet any of the state's science criteria and that it shouldn't be brought forward in the science curriculum,” she explained after the board meeting. “There is a social science class, though, that talks about world religions, and most people thought it would fit well into that.”

Nationally, critics of intelligent design, including many scientists, claim the whole idea is just a ploy for biblical creationists to sneak their views into public school science curriculum. They say intelligent design has no scientific merit or testable theory.

Proponents, however, say intelligent design raises legitimate logical challenges to evolutionary theory's ability to explain the biological diversity on Earth. They also point to unexplained gaps in evolutionary theory.

Alaska state curriculum standards, which were updated in the spring, make no mention of intelligent design but do state that students should understand the theory of evolution and natural selection as an explanation for evidence of changes in life forms over time.

In a high profile battle this fall, a Pennsylvania school district went to federal court when a group of parents challenged a local school board decision in favor of intelligent theory in science curriculum. A decision in that case, which hinges on constitutional mandates for separation of church and state, is expected in January. But earlier this month, all eight members of the school board were defeated in their bids for re-election.

Earlier this month, the Kansas Board of Education approved new science standards that give school districts the authority to challenge evolution. School boards in Minnesota, New Mexico and Ohio have adopted similar standards.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.