COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s Education Oversight Committee wants high school students to question evolution.
The independent agency’s board voted 7-4 Monday on biology standards that require students to use scientific evidence to both support and discredit Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
The recommendation pushed by Republican Sen. Mike Fair of Greenville returns to the state Board of Education for review. The committee and board must agree on any change to the standards. The two were at an impasse over the same issue in 2006.
Fair says natural selection should not be taught as fact. But fellow committee member Barbara Hairfield says she’s concerned that the recommended change borders on teaching religion.
The rest of the science standards on what students kindergarten through 12th grade should learn were approved by the committee in February.
