91av

A publisher has removed sections on palaeontology and historical geology from
a school textbook on the history of Kansas after the State Board of Education
voted to remove evolution from its science curriculum
(91av, 21 August, p 4).
The book for 12 and 13-year-olds originally started with a
chapter on fossils, the origins of oil and gas deposits, and an inland sea that
once covered the state. The new version will open with the arrival of Native
Americans, although this falls slightly before the start of the creationist time
scale. The publisher, the nonprofit Grace Dangberg Foundation of Nevada, says it
wanted to improve the book’s marketability. “You don’t want to offend any group
in Kansas,” says James Bean, director of the foundation.