Alabama Refuses to Remove Textbook Disclaimer Calling Evolution "Controversial"
For the past decade, every student in Alabama has been greeted by the same paragraphs-long disclaimer in the front of their bio textbooks claiming that evolution is a “controversial theory” that has “not been directly observed.” And after putting it to a vote last week, the state Board of Education decided that that disclaimer isn’t going anywhere.
To Alabama’s (minimal) credit, the state did at least mandate the teaching of evolution for the first time ever last year, saying that classes are required to “analyze scientific evidence (e.g., DNA, fossil records, cladograms, biogeography) to support hypotheses of common ancestry and biological evolution.”
When these fancy new regulations went into place last year, the Board promised to have a committee review its biology textbook disclaimer.
Of course, before they do that, they’ll be reading this:
Responding to a similar effort last year aimed at helping students with the “many unanswered questions about the origin of life,” the ACLU of Alabama noted that it was “a thinly-veiled attempt to open the door to religious fanatics who don’t believe in evolution, climate change or other scientifically-based teaching in our schools.”
In other news, according to a Pew Research poll, over a third of all Americans reject the theory of evolution entirely. Have fun in school, kids.
