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A high-school student in Franklin County, Virginia drew media attention when a school administrator refused to allow his "opinion piece" on biological evolution to appear in the school's news magazine, but it now appears that the essay in question was plagiarized from the Internet.
As reported in The Roanoke Times, Brandon Creasy, 16, claimed that his essay on why biological evolution is a fact and not just a theory (in the colloquial sense of the word "theory") was barred from publication in his school's news magazine because the principal does not believe in evolution. Kevin Bezy, principal of the Leonard A. Gereau Center for Applied Technology and Career Exploration, told the Roanoke Times that Creasy's essay "didn't present the theory with a sensitivity for those who hold other theories." In addition, Bezy stated, "The teacher of the student was asked to take out language that stated his theory is the only theory."
Scientists who study the history and development of life on Earth do, indeed, consider evolution "the only theory", in that the general principles of gradual changes in gene pools over the generations, influenced by factors like natural selection, are the only package of ideas which actually work. This body of knowledge gives successful predictions of things like what new fossils will be found and where, and it has great practical value in areas like medicine. For the scientific community, it's the only game in town.
According to David Campbell, the teacher of the "Introduction to Media" class which produces the school's In The Groove news magazine, Bezy said "the article sounded angry with the church, it wasn't based on fact and he [Bezy] intimated that the potential for community backlash might be an issue." The Roanoke Times quoted Bezy as saying,
"The law gives the principal the responsibility to edit publications of the school," Bezy said. "It is an important responsibility because the principal has to look out for the rights and sensitivities of all students, especially in a diverse and multicultural area."
The biologist PZ Myers, professor at the University of Minnesota-Morris, drew attention to the story on his popular science blog Pharyngula. Myers wrote in response to Bezy's call for multiculturalism,
All this talk about sensitivities and multiculturalism isn't being used to promote a diversity of ideas: he's using it to squelch the expression of any opinions that differ from the flavorless, mealy pablum to which he wants the cultural environment of the school reduced. A "diverse and multicultural area" should be one where there is an outspoken clash of ideas, not one where disagreement is silenced.
Pharyngula, which typically receives in excess of fifty thousand visits per day, draws a large number of comments. One commenter, going by the pseudonym "MP2K", noticed that the content of Creasy's essay seemed to be lifted from "An Essay on Evolution" by Robert B. Hole, Jr., a webpage last modified in 2007 but whose content has been essentially unchanged since 1997. Additional web-searching finds copies of this essay on sites devoted to the exchange of school-assignment papers, such as coursework.info, which bills itself as providing "inspiration in an instant". (The essay has apparently been on that site since 2004.)
Commenters at the Pharyngula blog were swift to react to the possibility of plagiarism. Writes one,
Shame on student Brandon Creasy for this. Yes, he has an excellent cause on the censorship and 'sensitivity' issue, and our points regarding that still stand on principle. But it's clear plagiarism. Since he had to know this himself, why did he allow it to become a cause celebre? Youth, but still...
Another remarks, "If the principal had been savvy enough to use search engines, this whole thing could have been avoided." On this point, additional readers sounded agreement, one of them writing, "If he had done so, he would have had an incredibly easy out [...] that wouldn't have landed this in the media. Instead, he looks like both a zealot and an incompetent academic administrator."
This is not the first time the readers of Pharyngula have sniffed out a suspicious case of copying. At the end of January, 2008, several bloggers called attention to a paper in the journal Proteomics, a reputable publication whose editors had apparently been asleep at the wheel: an article which claimed to find evidence of mystic influence in mitochondria was published on their website and slated to appear in the print edition. The basic claim of the paper was completely unfounded; looking into the matter more deeply, Pharyngula readers discovered that the parts of the paper which did actually make sense had been copied directly from other articles, without so much as a footnote indicating the source of the material. Proteomics retracted the paper on account of the plagiarism.
Science, like all other activities carried out by human beings, is subject to human error. The scientific enterprise relies on continual cross-criticism to weed out bad ideas, proposals which don't stand up to the evidence, and the occasional outright fraud. The Internet in general, and science blogs in particular, have become an arena where this continual cross-criticism can be conducted. The process can be messy: like everyone else, scientists can become attached to ideas for little good reason. However, part of the training of a scientist is the recognition that this process is necessary, not just for the benefit of one's own career but for the advancement of the sum total of human knowledge.
As with science, so with education: a dose of integrity is a basic requirement.
Parents of America should take note. Strangers on the Internet are doing something much more frightening than soliciting photos of your children on MySpace.
They're making sure your children didn't cheat on their homework.
Education & Careers
Comments
*applause*
Pharyngula is truly a force of goodness in the world. The readership is not perfect, but they did manage to make a change. It's amazing this rather obscure biologist from Minnesota does so much for public education. The cracker incident, that thing with the Cincinnati zoo,the Proteomics article, PZ just snipes these things down. Well, not just PZ, a lot of people help him out, but he's definitely a ringleader of people with very good intentions, and with his "leadership", a lot of good stuff really happens.
Kudos. To you for this post and for PZ or his advancement of public education.
Posted by: Freidenker | December 14, 2008 5:59 PM
As it so happens, it may have been yours truly that actually tipped off the newspaper that fact-checking was warranted, as you can see here:
Just wanted to give myself some credit!....:)
PS, thought this post was a fantastic resource for those who care about this topic and I linked to it on my blog.
Posted by: Scott Hatfield, OM | December 14, 2008 6:45 PM
I'm embarrased that I seem to get some credit for busting the Proteomics paper ...
I just threw the accusation out there. Lossa other people (non-lazy) did all the digging and documentation.
What'll you bet that this'll be held up as an example of 'evilutionists' having no morals?
Posted by: Sili | December 15, 2008 1:58 PM
>>>>>What'll you bet that this'll be held up as an example of 'evilutionists' having no morals?
Hey, I wouldn't worry about being considered "evil" by the fanatics on the religious right: it's almost a rite of passage--and a complimentary one at that--to earn their wrath. I only wish that the educations of kids in our country included more critical thinking, a factor sorely lacking nowadays.
I can only say I'm happy to get fundies mad at me! I haven't made it a mission until very recently, but the more of them I can show as idiots and fools, the better I will feel. :-)
Here's to the dissolution of the "theories" of creationism and ID, which isn't so "intelligent" after all! (Just like this principal!)
Posted by: Mary | December 15, 2008 8:28 PM
Ding!
"The Irony of Evolution"
Posted by: Anton Mates | December 18, 2008 2:49 PM
Oh, stars above.
The sanctimony, it burns! The first sentence is irrelevant: explaining particular bits of culturally-specific standards of behaviour is simply not part of biology's job description. The second sentence transcends irrelevance and enters the territory of the wrong.
Most of the rest of the piece is your standard "hell in a handbasket" whine, with Evilution taking the rôle previously played by Video Games and Violent Movies.
And, of course, evilutionists get no credit for bringing the matter to light.
Posted by: Blake Stacey | December 18, 2008 3:07 PM
I wonder if the White House thought to blame the plagiarism by Timothy S. Goeglein, former Presidential assistant tasked with pleasing the conservative base, on evolution.
Posted by: Blake Stacey | December 19, 2008 1:15 PM