COLUMBUS,
Ohio, Dec. 11 — The state
school board unanimously
approved on Tueday standards
that more strongly advocate
the teaching of evolution
while letting students fully
criticize the legitimacy of
the theory.
The
standards do not require the
teaching or testing of the
alternate "intelligent
design" theory, which
says a higher intelligence
guides the universe. The vote
was 18 to 0, with 1 absence.
The board
has worked since January on
the guidelines, which teachers
will be encouraged, but not
required, to follow. They will
be the basis of new tests that
students have to pass to
graduate. Evolution will be
the sole origin-of-life theory
on the tests, meaning that
schools that avoid teaching
Darwinian theory may put their
students at a disadvantage.
Local
districts may decide to teach
intelligent design, the idea
that life must have been
designed by a nonspecified
higher power because it is so
complex, or other theories.
The current
standards to teach science to
the 1.8 million students in
Ohio do not mention the word
"evolution." They
recommend teaching
"change through
time," but do not specify
what that involves.