Level heads prevail

[Richard Pyle]

As promised, what follows is a brief report of the Board of Education's
public hearing last night with respect to the proposed ammendments to the
Hawaii State Standards for Performance, that included a provision for
teaching "multiple theories of origin" under the Biological Evolutuon
Section. Once again, I extend a heart-felt "Thanks" to everyone who
commented on this issue, both on this list, and in private email.  Your help
was most appreciated!

Aloha,
Rich

As you may already know, late last night the Hawaii BOE *unanimously* voted
to revert the Performance Standards to the original wording (i.e., excluding
the changes proposed by BOE member Denise Matsumoto to teach "multiple
theories of origin", and related wording). The BOE members patiently endured
65 3-minute (some longer) oral testimonials on the topic, of which I would
estimate that roughly 75-80% were opposed to the proposed changes.
Apparently, this was a record turn-out for a BOE hearing. We were also told
that over 200 written testimonials had been received.

Testimony opposing the proposed changes came from a wide spectrum of
University-level professors, Hawaii State science teachers, concerned
citizens, a former BOE member, and a surprising (and encouraging!) number of
religious leaders. Almost without exception, these testimonials were
eloquent and extremely effective at addressing the real points of concern (I
include my own oral testimony among the exceptions -- I was suffering from a
pretty nasty illness/fever, and basically bumbled my way through an ad-lib
overview commentary that got some laughs and drove home a couple of points,
but certainly wasn't nearly as effective as it could have been -- my
apologies to Lisa, my co-testifier). Those testifying in favor of the
proposed changes had a much less unified message to present, ranging from
attacks on evolution as unsupported conjecture, appeals for children to be
given both perspectives and allowed to think critically and objectively to
make
their own decisions, support of Intelligent Design Theory as legitimate
science,
and that teaching the bible builds character and integrity in our children.

Several highlights of the evening:

- Several extremely well-presented testimonials from religious leaders who
emphasized both that Evolution should be clearly taught for the legitimate
science that it really is, and also that they do *NOT* want State teachers
attempting to teach religion to their children.

- One fellow put $5,000 in cash on the table and offered it to anyone who
could "prove that molecular evolution actually happens".  After a moment of
stunned silence in the audience (particularly among the molecular biologists
in the crowd, who were no-doubt already thinking about how to spend the
money), he clarified that he would hand over the cash to anyone who could
produce a living cell from raw non-living materials in the laboratory. It
was later noted that within a few years, he may well have to cough up that
bounty.

- To describe what was by far the funniest moment of the evening, it helps
to understand that speakers were allowed 3 minutes to give their testimony,
at which time the timekeeper gave them a brief but pugnacious electronic
"BZZZZT". Speakers who continued for more than another 30 seconds or so were
given a somewhat more obnoxious "BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!". One fellow rambled on
about how Evolution was really just poorly-supported speculation with no
real basis in science.  After his 3-minute buzzer alarm, he continued his
droning, culminating with surely the most astounding quote of the evening:
"Most scientists do not believe in Evolution."  With impeccable (but
certainly unintentional) comic timing, this statement was immediately
followed by "BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!".  It brought the house down, and reduced me
to tears, despite my illness.

- Probably the most poignant moment of the evening (for me, at least) came
towards the end, when a woman who I had sat next to for much of the evening
got up to testify that Evolution was itself a religion, based entirely on
faith, and therefore had no business being taught in public schools. She
explained that largely for this reason, she practiced home schooling for her
daughter. Immediately after her testimony, her daughter (about 11 or 12
years old) presented her own testimony. While I have to give the young girl
credit for having the courage to get up in front of a room dominated by the
"opposition" to say her piece (which largely echoed her mother's), I
couldn't help but feel saddened for what turmoil this poor girl will likely
face when she must pay the consequences for her lack of adequate education.
I'm not sure how many people in the room picked up on the sad irony, but
this paired testimony demonstrated with ominous clarity the hazards of
compromising the integrity of educational standards.  It may well have been
the most compelling testimony of the evening to oppose the proposed changes
to the Standards.

Overall, I was especially proud of the turn-out of professional academics,
and the testimony they provided.  Long before the evening's testimonials had
been completed, it was more than evident that this would end up being a
"slam dunk" decision by the BOE. That there was almost no discussion among
BOE members before making the final vote (the only discussion at all dealt
with technical issues of what was being voted on), and that the vote was
*unanimous* (apparently meaning that even Ms. Matsumoto conceded on the
issue), confirms resoundingly that level heads did indeed prevail.


Richard L. Pyle
Ichthyology, Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817
Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252
email: deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
http://www.bishopmuseum.org/bishop/HBS/pylerichard.html
"The views expressed are the author's, and not necessarily those of Bishop
Museum."