Proponents of the teaching of evolution favor boycotting the hearings on Kansas’ science standards that a three-member subcommittee of the state board of education will hold in May.
The state board decided in February to hold the hearings after an eight-member group of the 26-member committee assigned to rewrite the state’s science standards attacked the recommended guidelines for lacking a critical analysis of evolution.
Kansas Citizens for Science, a nonprofit science education organization based in Lawrence, has called on “the entire science and science education community of Kansas to refuse to participate in this fiasco,” according to the group’s Web site.
As of last week, the state education agency had not confirmed the participation of any representatives of the scientific community willing to defend evolution at the hearings. Up to 24 proponents of alternatives to the theory of evolution will testify at the hearings, scheduled for May 5-7, and May 12-14 if necessary, in Topeka.
