The National Association of Scholars (nas.org) has published a new set of “K-12 State Science Standards” dedicated to “the spirit of Benjamin Franklin.” NAS is a conservative organization of scholars that promotes “academic freedom, disinterested scholarship, and excellence in American higher education.” While not overtly Christian, NAS stresses traditional values consistent with classical Judeo-Christian thought.
NAS saw a need for new science standards to challenge the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which NAS says “combine misguided pedagogical theory, low academic standards, politicized instruction, and training in activism.” This has led to a situation “with many students graduating from our schools without the basics of scientific knowledge.” NAS calls for the U.S. to “restore rigorous, depoliticized American science instruction.”
The Franklin Standards retain the usual core disciplines of Physical Sciences (Physics/Chemistry), Biology/Life Sciences, and Earth and Space Sciences. It goes beyond that to include standards of Scientific Inquiry, History of Science, Technology, and Engineering.
Our intent here is to examine the Franklin Standards’ treatment of the origin of the universe, of life, and of life’s diversity. We state at the outset that the standards only consider an evolutionary history of the Earth. The only improvement over NGSS is that this treatment is not dogmatic. That is, the new standards do not overtly promote materialism or rule out teleology/design. On the other hand, the new standards do not mention the evolution/design controversy or the arguments for intentional design in biology. Thus, while the Franklin Standards are an improvement over NGSS, we cannot recommend them as a direct replacement for NGSS.
The coverage of evolution begins in Grade 7 (pp. 81-82). The standards acknowledge a difference between microevolution (“origin of adaptations and species”) and macroevolution (“origin of higher taxa”). No further details on this difference are given, but it is stated that the “fossil evidence and comparative anatomy describe the phenomenon of evolution.” The standards acknowledge “major transition points in the history of life (origin of life, origin of eukaryotes, origins of animals and higher plants, origins of intelligence (consciousness), origins of conscience).” Again, no details are given.
The standards state the “basic outline of Darwinian theory includes adaptation, variation, heritability, natural selection, and small modifications of lineages over generations along familial lines of descent.” It is further stated that there “are common ancestors to multiple related species.”
With these general guidelines, a teacher could teach a straight evolutionary history of life or else could add a discussion of the design alternative. We suspect most teachers will stick to the straight evolutionary story since there is no explicit mention of teleology/design in the standards.
Consideration of evolution is continued in high school Biology & Life Sciences (pp. 163-166). Evolution is defined as the “modification of species over time.” It is stated that there “are many competing theories for the mechanism of evolution, although Neo-Darwinism is presently the prevailing theory.” It is said that “Darwinism works through natural selection,” a “continuous and gradual process which produces new species over long periods of time.”
The standards state that: “Alternative theories of the mechanism of evolution have emerged that complement, modify, or substitute for Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism.” Several materialistic concepts are mentioned (Neo-Lamarckism, mutationism, catastrophism, saltation, punctuated equilibrium, et al.), but teleology/design is not considered.
Two “competing hypotheses for the origin of Life on Earth” are named (abiogenesis and panspermia), but again there is no consideration of teleology/design.
The standards for high school Earth and Space Sciences touch on the origin of the universe (pp. 180-184). It is stated that the “current theory is that the universe was created from an event called the Big Bang. Evidence for this theory includes residual cosmic background radiation and a red-shift in the light from distant galaxies.” It is also stated that the “pattern of evolution of life-forms on Earth is at least partially preserved in the fossil record.” Again, there is no mention of intentional design.
In the History of Life section of the Earth and Space Sciences standards, there is a brief consideration on the “history of the Earth” (pp. 202-203). It is stated that some “peoples around the world have believed the Earth was eternal and others have believed that it was created in some fashion.” This is as close as the standards ever get to acknowledging the possibility of a supernatural creator/designer.
In summary, the new Franklin Science Standards are an improvement over NGSS. There is more science content and rigor as compared to NGSS, but the standards never acknowledge that there could be intentional design in nature. One is left with the impression that materialism is sufficient to explain phenomena in the natural world, and one might reasonably conclude from the Franklin Standards that a supernatural involvement in the history of the universe is either absent or unnecessary.
Endnote: It is pleasing that a reference (no. 4) acknowledges the COPE website (copeinc.org).