"Daily Mail" April 26, 2001
Woman requests labels in textbooks
Mother says books misrepresent evolution theories

Carrie Smith <csmith@dailymail.com>
Daily Mail staff

Thursday April 26, 2001; 01:00 PM A Kanawha County woman has asked state
Department of Education officials to place warning labels in science
textbooks to alert students and teachers that the books contain inaccurate
information about evolution. But most state and county representatives say
they're not certain that the books in question -- a seventh grade Prentice
Hall series -- contain false statements and say disclaimers would cause
too much confusion.Patty Pulliam, a South Charleston resident, reached the
fourth and final phase of her grievance against the state during a hearing
Wednesday. Pulliam filed the appeal on behalf of 40 other Kanawha County
residents late last year and has already appeared before a local
curriculum specialist, the county superintendent and the county Board of Education.
She was denied her requests at all levels. A decision is expected in 30
days."I'm just a concerned mother," said Pulliam, who discovered what she calls
evolution errors while reviewing the textbooks her daughter would be using
next year. "I don't want my child being taught something fraudulent."Her
claim is that four pages in one book in the five-book series deliberately
misrepresents the theory of evolution. Pulliam cites state code that
requires all information in textbooks be current and present information
accurately.The textbooks, which were adopted last year by Kanawha County
schools, were approved by a state selection committee and later adopted by
the county. All of the county's science teachers, as well as members of
the community, had a chance to review the materials before the board voted on
them.Pulliam is also asking that additional materials challenging the
information in the textbooks be provided to teachers, as well as training
from hired consultants as to how to present the information.Bob Seymour,
the county's science curriculum specialist, said science teachers already
provide balance to the information presented in the text. "I don't think there is
a one-sided presentation to evolution in the classroom," he said. "There are
many interpretations and the books are not set up to be presented as cold,
hard facts. One of the interesting parts of science is that it is always
changing."Seymour said warning labels would be an insult to teachers who
already know how to do their job.Jonathan Wells, a scientist and author,
testified over the phone from his offices in Seattle that teachers could
become confused by the textbooks because it is the science community who
is at fault for the errors."I do not think these are random typographical
errors," he said. "They are systematic errors to promote their theories.
There's a much better way to teach science."Kanawha County board president
Bill Raglin said he objected to warning labels because of the effect they
could have on the children."It would diminish the validity of the book and
create problems for the teacher," he said. "But students would be
skeptical about what they could believe and they would never learn anything."As for
Pulliam's requests of additional materials, Steve McBride, the state's
executive director for instructional materials, said teachers are already
encouraged to use a wide variety of materials in their classroom. And
McBride and Raglin agreed that consultants would be too expensive.Pulliam said
that was why she was not asking that the entire series of books be removed from
the classroom. The books are used in three other counties in the state --
Marshall, Nicholas and Marion.

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