February 15, 2001

1 min read

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Kansas Votes to Reinstate Evolution

By Kate Wong

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In August of 1999 the Kansas State Board of Education made a now-infamous decision. Local school districts, they ruled, could omit evolutionary theory from the curriculum. Ever since, the state's science standards have been the subject of heated debate and international ridicule. A turning point in the debacle occurred last fall, however, when voters gave the boot to two anti-evolution board members. And when the board convened yesterday, they overturned the controversial curriculum, reinstating evolution as a key scientific principle in a 7-3 vote.

With the new standards in place, tests given to students this spring will include questions on evolution. "Teachers and scientists are very pleased that the Kansas Board of Education made the right decision," Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education told Reuters. "It will show other states and communities around the country that backing good science education is the politically smart thing to do, as well as the educationally smart thing to do."

Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor for features at Scientific American, where she has focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for nearly 30 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home to the shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, as well as to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and a “Big Day” race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Wong is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Bluesky @katewong.bsky.social

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