The 1999-2000 year science standards referred to in this essay were recently overturned by the newly elected board. This essay is maintained here because of its potential relevence to battles being fought in other parts of the country. Today the Board of Education in Kansas has accepted science standards that omit serious consideration of evolution. They seem to have done this under the mistaken impression that evolution is not in some sense good science. Indeed, the board has failed in its understanding of what science is and how it operates.
Science makes certain real basic assumptions about how the universe operates.
Where the Board went wrong is in its failure to understand these assumptions. I hope this l become clear to you as you read this essay. First, scientists assume that there is an external world that is worth studying. Sounds simple and while philosophers might debate about how we know there is an external world, suffice to say I think we all recognize that there is something out there beyond the confines of our skulls. In our post modern world, it's tempting to believe that absolute truth doesn't exist.