Printer-Friendly Version

Page 2 of 2

"At a time of increasing anxiety about our children's readiness in math and science, U.S. science education is under assault, with 'discovery learning' attacking on one flank and the Discovery Institute on the other," said Chester E. Finn, Jr. of the Fordham Institute.

"The National Academies, Thomas Friedman, and others have called on Americans to 'get serious' about science, but few state standards can fairly be described as serious. We all know that great standards don't guarantee a good education for a state's students, but weak standards make it much less likely," Finn added.

Meanwhile, conservatives reacted with disdain at the court's rejection of intelligent design.

"Why the apparent fear to allow students to hear a simple statement saying that Darwinism is a theory and there are other theories out there?" asked Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA).

"In the Dover Area School District there was no change in curriculum, evolution was still being taught, the only change was the reading of a one-minute statement on the first day of 9th grade biology class," said Gramley.

"Pennsylvania students have just been hamstrung by a federal judge and the effort by the outgoing Dover Areas school board to expand the students' knowledge has been destroyed," she added.

(CNSNews.com Senior Editor Melanie Hunter contributed to this report.)

>> Back -- Page 1 2

Copyright © 1998-2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service