Debate Over Teaching Flaws in Darwinism
By: Courtnee Hembree
Updated: March 25, 2009
The Texas Board of Education held an open meeting today.
The topic is evolution and whether or not Texas teachers should be required to point out the flaws in Darwin's theory.
Members of the State Board of Education may be talking, but here in Abilene, almost no one is talking about what's going on in Austin; at least not publicly.
I tried to speak with several educators today and they simply refused to talk about it.
ACU professors even refused to speak on the subject, but I did find a teacher at Wylie who explained what the Texas Board of Education meeting was all about.
Currently, Texas law requires teachers to cover the "strengths and weaknesses" of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Opponents of that approach say it's an open door to the teaching of creationism and they want it shut.
But, even here in the bible belt teachers said they work hard to keep creationism out of their classroom so that their students can focus on the facts.
The Board heard from dozens of speakers from both sides of the debate today.
There has been no word on if the board voted today, or if they will vote tomorrow, but whatever the Board of Education decides, that ruling will remain in place for the next decade, so it will have a large impact on current and future school children.
Over 10,000 emails and phone calls have been made to the State Board of Education by parents, teachers and concerned citizens; most stating that they want the strength and weaknesses theory to remain in the classroom.


