Kansas Throws Its Lot in with the Apes Again

Reality returned to Kansas today, after its most recent extended vacation from the Sunflower State, as the Board of Education repealed its anti-evolution curriculum guidelines. The state has thus rejoined the mainstream, rejecting so-called "intelligent design" in favor of, you know, actual science. If you're feeling a faintly dizzying sense of deja-vu, it's no wonder:

The state has had five sets of standards in eight years, with anti- and pro-evolution versions, each doomed by the seesawing fortunes of socially conservative Republicans and a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans.

Full credit to the undaunted people who managed to put things right again:

"Those standards represent mainstream scientific consensus about both what science is and what evolution is," said Jack Krebs, a math and technology teacher who helped write the new guidelines. He is also president of Kansas Citizens for Science.

As Liberal Values points out, it's a nice victory, but "it's a shame they couldn’t have done so one day earlier. It would have been a great way to celebrate Darwin Day."

Red State Rabble followed the deliberations, and should be a good source to follow for news on the aftermath (it also has links to a couple of anti-Brownback blogs, for your GOP presidential primary tracking pleasure).

Is this a sign that the hardcore conservatives of Kansas have reached their high-water mark?

Labels: education, evolution, Kansas, Liberal Values blog, Red State Rabble, social conservatives

  ¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 7:30 PM