Despite the court ruling of Edwards, creationists have continued the fight to get creationism taught in schools, with limited success. Within the decade after the Edwards case, “despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 in Edwards v. Aguillard ruled that ‘creation science’ is not science and cannot constitutionally be taught in science classrooms, Kansas voters battled over the inclusion of the ‘e-word’ in their state standards.” (Belin & Kisida, pg. 1054) At least still in public schools, creationists have continued to struggle for their viewpoints to be put in classrooms. However, creationists have landed a victory by exploiting a loophole in education law by presenting creationism as a valid, competing idea to evolution in private
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112) Without financial support from the government, these private schools are not obligated to follow state education standards, which gives free reign for creationists to teach their own curriculum, but they still must meet certain requirements to continue to keep their school open. According to the Council for American Public Education (CAPE) website, 10% of all US students attend private schools, and of those students, 79% of them attend a religiously-affiliated private school. This means around 8% of all students in the US are possibly exposed to creationism as a valid scientific theory in competition with evolution. In fact, there are charter schools in Texas that teach creationism and undermine evolution. Responsive Education Solutions is a charter school company that alleges to teaching, “a balanced look at differing opinions on the theory of evolution, as state curriculum standards require.” (Wermund, paragraph 5) Despite this claim, RES’s textbooks prove the opposite; in describing the origin of life, “[the textbook] includes a quote from the Bible, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.’” (Wermund, paragraph 13) Even though creationists cannot teach what they want in private schools, they are still reaching a portion of the American youth through these private, religiously-affiliated schools, continuing to preach the word of God as the
112) Without financial support from the government, these private schools are not obligated to follow state education standards, which gives free reign for creationists to teach their own curriculum, but they still must meet certain requirements to continue to keep their school open. According to the Council for American Public Education (CAPE) website, 10% of all US students attend private schools, and of those students, 79% of them attend a religiously-affiliated private school. This means around 8% of all students in the US are possibly exposed to creationism as a valid scientific theory in competition with evolution. In fact, there are charter schools in Texas that teach creationism and undermine evolution. Responsive Education Solutions is a charter school company that alleges to teaching, “a balanced look at differing opinions on the theory of evolution, as state curriculum standards require.” (Wermund, paragraph 5) Despite this claim, RES’s textbooks prove the opposite; in describing the origin of life, “[the textbook] includes a quote from the Bible, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.’” (Wermund, paragraph 13) Even though creationists cannot teach what they want in private schools, they are still reaching a portion of the American youth through these private, religiously-affiliated schools, continuing to preach the word of God as the