A big change for Alabama public schools.
Hats off to Alabama educators, who've revised their old science standards and will now require schools to teach
evolution and climate change:
Alabama is updating its decade-old science standards to require that students understand evolution and learn about climate change, topics that can still be controversial in the Bible Belt state.
Educators say the new rules — part of a major change that includes more experimentation and hands-on instruction and less lecturing — don't require that students believe in evolution or accept the idea that climate is changing globally.
But public school students will be required for the first time to understand the theory of evolution. And teachers will be required to address climate change, which wasn't a focus the last time the state set science standards in 2005.
Administrators want to give children who may go on to pursue science degrees a better chance of succeeding. Nevertheless, those pesky stickers will remain in their science textbooks:
Textbooks used in Alabama science classes have carried a disclaimer sticker for years stating that evolution is a "controversial theory," not fact, and the new course of study doesn't change the warnings, which were advocated by Christian conservatives.
That notwithstanding, this is a big win for the children of Alabama.