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Published 10/17/2012 in News

TOPEKA (AP) A veteran biology professor described public school science standards being drafted by Kansas and other states as weak, telling education officials Tuesday that they largely ignore important subjects such as zoology and human anatomy.

John Richard Schrock, a biology professor at Emporia State University, said the standards being drafted concentrate too much on ecology, evolution and molecular biology. He said adopting such guidelines in Kansas is likely to prevent students from learning enough about zoology, human anatomy, botany and microbiology.

Kansas and 25 other states are working with the National Research Council on common standards for possible adoption in their public schools, and Kansas officials involved in writing the guidelines contend the goal is to concentrate on core scientific concepts. Schrock aired his criticism during a public-comment session before the State Board of Education, and officials involved in writing the standards responded during a monthly update for the board on their work.

Past work on science standards in Kansas has been overshadowed by debates about how evolution should be taught. The state had five sets of standards in eight years starting in 1999, as evolution skeptics gained and lost state board majorities in elections. The current, evolution-friendly standards were adopted by the board in 2007, but state law requires them to be updated.

Schrock, who's taught biology at Emporia State since 1986 and is a former chairman of its biology department, favors evolution-friendly standards, but he's also long argued that the state and U.S. should require students to take more science courses and impose detailed standards.

"You can't solve a chess problem if you don't know how to play chess, and you can't repair a car if you don't know how a car works," he said during an interview. "This promotes science stupidity."

But Matt Krehbiel, the Kansas Department of Education official overseeing the state's work on the standards, said Schrock's criticism isn't justified. He said the standards won't preclude schools from teaching different scientific subjects but will promote a deeper understanding of core concepts.

A first draft of the proposed standards became public in May, and another draft is expected to be released in November. Officials expect the Kansas board to consider adopting them early next year.

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AP: Kansas officials, professor debate science standards