To: Oklahoma Parents and Educators
From: Authors of Biology textbooks

November 17, 1999

Dear Friends,

We are surprised and disappointed at the recent decision of the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee to place an evolution disclaimer on all biology texts offered for use in the State. By describing evolution as "a controversial theory, which some scientists present as scientific explanation for the origin of living things" the Textbook Committee is dramatically misleading the young people of Oklahoma.

As the National Academy of Sciences, the most prestigious scientific body in the United States, recently noted, "Biological evolution is the best scientific explanation we have for the enormous range of observations about the living world."

Our textbooks are written from this point of view. Evolution occupies a prominent position in each of them, and is covered explicitly. Many sections use evolutionary concepts to explain the diversity of living and fossil organisms, the adaptations of organisms to their environments, and similarities of structure and function shared by related organisms. In this way, we present students with the understanding of biology shared by the overwhelming majority of working scientists in the United States and throughout the world. Sadly, the disclaimer adopted by the Committee seeks to conceal this reality from the biology students of Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma disclaimer mistakenly singles out evolution from all other scientific ideas as somehow less reliable or less accepted by scientists. Evolution is a normal part of science, and should be treated the same way as all other scientific ideas. It does a disservice to students to mislead them about the important position that evolution holds in the biological and other sciences.

We write to you as individuals as parents, biologists, authors, and educators. We urge the State Textbook Committee to reconsider its actions, and to act in a way that will lead students and teachers in the State towards, rather than away from, a thorough understanding of every aspect of the science of biology.


Sincerely,


Biology Textbook Authors

Bruce Alberts, National Academy of Sciences
Alton Biggs ,Biggs Educational Consulting.Allen, Texas
Rodger Bybee.Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. Colorado Springs, CO
Neill Campbell, University of California, Riverside Helena Curtis, Sag Harbor, NY
Carol Gontag, Mountain View High School, Mountain View, CA
Paul J. Hummer, Jr., Hood College, Frederick, MD
Alexander Johnson, University of California, San Francisco
George Johnson, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
William Leonard, Clemson University, Clemson, SC
Joseph Levine, Science Writer/Consultant, Boston
Marilyn Lisowski, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
Linda Lundgren, Bear Creek High School, Lakewood, CO
James McLaren, Newton South High School, Newton Center, MA
Kenneth Miller, Brown University, Providence, RI
John Penick, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Peter Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO
Jane Reece,Palo Alto, CA
Gerald Skoog, Texas Tech University
Eric Strauss, Boston College

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