Committee approves new science standards for students, evolution clause on hold – The Post and Courier

" I don't think it should be taught as fact."

__

Lately I seem to be a day late and a dollar short in regards to these stories. There are just so many of them and being one person, I can't keep up. One of the latest forays into "teaching the controversy." But what I don't get, why is a Senator who obliviously has no clue as to what a scientific theory is, even speaking on the topic in the first place? All this man is doing is underscoring the need for better science education.

An education committee approved new science standards for students except for one clause: the one that involves the use of the phrase "natural selection."

The South Carolina Education Oversight Committee met Monday to review and approve the new set of science standards that the Department of Education will begin implementing by the fall of 2014 for students. Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, argued against teaching natural selection as fact, when he believes there are other theories students deserve to learn.

"Natural selection is a direct reference to Darwinism," Fair said after the meeting. "And the implication of Darwinism. is that it is start to finish."

Fair argued South Carolina's students are learning the philosophy of natural selection but teachers are not calling it such. He said the best way for students to learn is for the schools to teach the controversy.

"To teach that natural selection is the answer to origins is wrong," Fair said. "I don't have a problem with teaching theories. I don't think it should be taught as fact."

Committee approves new science standards for students, evolution clause on hold – The Post and Courier