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Katie Couric's Notebook: Evolution

(CBS/AP)
Did we descend from ape-like ancestors or from Adam and Eve?

A bitter debate is evolving about what to teach students about evolution.

The Texas board of education is expected to vote this week on a proposal to drop a 20-year-old requirement that teachers discuss both the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory.

Scientists support the change, arguing there are no weaknesses in the basic theory.

Critics insist students should also be taught opposing views.

The dispute has gotten so heated that some teachers skip the topic entirely.

So, as the adults fight, it is the children who lose.

Whatever the board decides could have an impact far beyond Texas, because text books written for that state are likely to be sold in other states as well.

But if schools want to dispute the notion of evolution -- or give students an alternative theory, like creationism -- maybe it should be taught in religion class, not science.

That's a page from my notebook.


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