Sometime in the late fall, unless a federal court intervenes,
ninth-graders at the public high school in rural Dover, Pa.,
will witness an unusual scene in biology class. The
superintendent of schools, Richard Nilsen, will enter the
classroom to read a three-paragraph statement mandated by the
local school board as a cautionary preamble to the study of
evolution. It reads, in part: Because Darwin's theory is a
theory, it is still being tested as new evidence is discovered.
The theory is not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which
there is no evidence ... Intelligent design is an explanation of
the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view. The
reference book Of Pandas and People is available for students to
see if they would like to explore this view ... As is true with
any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. After
that one-minute reading, the superintendent will probably depart
without any discussion, and a lesson in evolutionary biology
will begin. That kind of scene, brief and ben