The Chancellor's Challenge
The following was adapted from a speech by Chancellor Robert Hemenway
at the university's opening convocation on September 8, 1999.
In
1995, we set a goal of planning for the 21st century. As a result, we
identified three goals for KU's future:
- Act as one university
- Serve Kansans
- Build premier learning communities
The third goal seems particularly important given the
recent actions of the Kansas State Board of Education.
In case you have been stranded on a Pacific Island without
contact with the outer world this summer, let me briefly summarize what
the board has done.
It voted 6-4 not to include evolution, as it
has been commonly defined, in science standards recommended to Kansas
public schools. It also removed from the proposed set of science standards
references to radioactive dating of rocks, continental drift and the
"big bang theory" of the origin of the universe, apparently because
some people believe that the universe is only about 10,000 years old,
rather than the millions of years that seem to be confirmed by the geological
evidence.
The board's action grew out of an earlier attempt by
three board members to rewrite a set of science standards that had been
requested by the board from a group of 27 board-appointed science teachers
and science professionals. This rewritten version included numerous
explicit references to "creationism" and "intelligent design." It also
made the claim that since both evolution and gravity are only scientific
theories, neither should be taught as fact.
This alternative document was eventually abandoned,
however, perhaps because the teaching of creationism in a science classroom
has been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The science standards that were finally adopted by the
6-4 vote make references to "micro evolution"- minor genetic changes
observed in a population over time - but eliminated references to evolution
as scientists normally understand and define it and certainly as the
accumulated empirical evidence of the past two centuries would seem
to support it. The board's action has become a topic of international
derision.
Talk show hosts, as well as Salman Rushdie, have responded
with comedy or satire. Stephen Jay Gould, a Harvard geologist, wrote
in Time Magazine that the Kansas board transported its jurisdiction
to a never-never land where a Dorothy of the new millennium might exclaim,
"They still call it Kansas, but I don't think we're in the real world
anymore."
One of the most unfortunate aspects of this whole mess
is that the board has promulgated a belief that science and religion
are incompatible, that one cannot believe in both God and evolution.
This must be particularly offensive to scientists secure in both their
religious faith and their scientific knowledge. It is certainly a surprise
to the Catholic Church, most Jewish theologians, and the majority of
mainline Protestant denominations, all of whom have asserted the belief
that science and religion are not incompatible.
It is inviting to deride board members who have made
Kansas an object of scorn and embarrassment. In their frustration many
have done so.
I would propose a more constructive view. I believe
the board is filled with well-meaning people, duly elected by the people
of Kansas, who take seriously their statutory responsibility for public
education policy in the K-12 system. Obviously, Kansans will have an
opportunity at the ballot box or in the legislative arena to show what
they feel about this controversy, and about how well board members are
fulfilling their responsibilities.
The actions of some board members may reflect their
personal religious beliefs, and may even be an attempt to impose their
beliefs on others, but it serves little purpose for us to challenge
those religious convictions or to personally attack the members for
living their faith or carrying out their responsibility as they see
it.
However, if we believe in the United States Constitution,
which says that there should be separation between church and state,
and if we believe that these attempts to undermine the teaching of science
grow from a misunderstanding of scientific principles, as well as a
mistaken notion that one must choose between God and science, then we
really have only one choice. We should help make the University of Kansas
the leader in both Kansas and in the nation in science education.
We need to show support for science teachers across
Kansas, many of whom are feeling beleaguered, and we need to prepare
teachers and citizens who understand the public role of science.
We live in an exceedingly complex world shaped in many
ways by scientific knowledge. As citizens we have to form opinions about
scientific issues. If we don't, we fail in our responsibility to be
contributing members to the democratic discourse that ultimately determines
the nature and quality of our society. Whether it is the environment,
medical care or highways, science affects our life. Science has given
us a cure for polio, a man on the moon, and the Internet. It is too
important for us to say, "I don't understand. It is too technical."
As Robert Hazen and James Trefil state in their book,
Science Matters, "More and more scientific and technological
issues dominate national debate, from the greenhouse effect to the economic
threat from foreign technology. Being able to understand these debates
is becoming as important to you as being able to read. You must become
scientifically literate."
That is my challenge: Let KU become a national leader
in educating scientists, science teachers and scientifically literate
citizens.
Scientific literacy is not "doing science." Only highly
educated professionals "do science." A scientifically literate person
uses a knowledge of science to understand the ways that scientific discoveries
will affect one's life and change one's society.
Thus, let us establish three special goals for the premier
learning community that will be KU in the 21st century.
- Become a national leader in preparing science students.
We are a major American research university. It is our mission to
educate scientists who will discover new knowledge, and science teachers
who will inspire young people to become scientists.
- Educate all our students, science majors and non-majors
alike, to be scientifically literate. Let the goal be that every KU
graduate is prepared to contribute to public debate over scientific
issues.
- Insofar as we can, educate the public to be scientifically
literate. Let KU's continuing scientific education for adult learners
be a model for the rest of the country. And let every community in
Kansas know that, if it is wanted, help is available when its local
school board considers whether to teach evolution.
I believe that the board's action creates opportunities.
KU can and should, in my opinion, help redeem the educational reputation
of Kansas and contribute to Kansas' becoming a national leader among
the states in scientific literacy.
We have many faculty who are already nationally known
for their science and their science pedagogy. I will be asking many
of you to serve on a major task force with a dual charge: (1) to determine
how to improve scientific education at KU, and (2) to determine the
feasibility of making scientific literacy a major goal of KU's general
education.
I suspect that there are many, both within the state
and nationally, who will be willing to help us if we move ahead. They
know that what has happened in Kansas could happen in other states.
Of one thing I am certain: There is a need for scientific
literacy everywhere in the country, not just in Kansas. If those who
were shocked by the Board of Education's decision really care about
young people learning science, and are not just indulging prejudices
about the Midwest, or the people of Kansas, they should be the first
to enlist in our cause.
Let's see a Phoenix rise from these ashes. To the stars
through difficulties. Let KU rise to star status in science education
and overcome the difficulties that the summer of 1999 has imposed on
all of us who are proud of this state and respectful of its people.
