Retorts

Science Education

"For evil to triumph, it is only necessary for good men to do nothing."

The words of Edmund Burke came to mind on reading David Appell's "Science and the Citizen" column in a recent Scientific American. He was discussing the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to remove the requirement for school pupils to have a knowledge of evolution and cosmology to pass examinations.

In particular, he emphasised the narrow election majority which enabled the creationists to get their way. The Board reached its decision by six votes to four, and one of the six had achieved his place on the Board by a very slim majority, 15 votes, over his more scientifically literate opponent.

Had such a modest handful of non-voters turned up at the polls for the defeated candidate, the Board would not have made itself the laughing stock of the scientific community, and more importantly, would not have deprived many students of a proper biological education.

The rest of Appell's article discussed why "good men" (and women) are doing nothing to combat the evil of creationism, and he quotes the views of the few who are doing more than nothing.

Their conclusion is that the pontifications of national bodies such as (in the United States) the National Center for Science Education and the American Geophysical Union have little effect at the local level. State and District Boards need local scientists to take part in their work "... to do the kind of grass roots grunt work that has to be done." (Eugenie Scott).

A lesson for scientists everywhere.

Professor Bernard Howard, Christchurch