Can Evolution Be Criticized in Public Schools?

• “[The parish] encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately to differences of opinion about controversial issues.”
• “Teachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught.”

While academic freedom and critical thinking sound like noble goals, not everyone was pleased. “This is, I think, the next wave of attack by anti-evolution forces to get their materials into public schools,” warned Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. University biology professors wrote a letter urging school board members to reconsider, and a lawsuit is likely.

Will students ever be free to learn the whole truth about evolution, warts and all?