Teaching Evolution

[Bill Shear]

>I suspect there are thousands out there who have been heartened by the
>"boldness" of the Kansas legislature and are chomping at the bit to get
>similar legislation in their states.

Keep in mind that it was not the Kansas legislature which acted to remove
evolution from the state's standardized tests, but the elected state school
board.  The governor has vowed to introduce a bill in the Kansas
legislature to abolish the elected board in favor of an appointed one, and
evidently this has considerable support in the legislature.  In any event,
the members of the board will be held accountable by the voters in the next
election.  But given the strong sentiment among the general public in favor
of their action, I doubt that any of them will be turned out.

Here in Virginia we have a local option at the county level for either
appointed or elected school boards.  The theory behind having elected
boards is that they will be more representative of the community.  So far,
in our county, we are sticking with an appointed board, and so long as care
is taken to make appointments that are representative, we will likely
continue to do so.  An election for school board can easily turn  on a few
votes, and if a highly motivated group has an agenda, they can elect a
member they like by simply "getting out the vote."

But that's democracy!  We all know how the game is played and what we have
to do to win it.


Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills at hsc.edu>