The exam, which will be given online, excludes natural selection as a “major mechanism of evolution”:
College Board’s May 18 AP Biology exam will be given online and EXCLUDES Unit 7, i.e., the 24-page section on natural selection that describes natural selection as a “major mechanism of evolution.”
WHY THE DELETION? I’d like to think my series of stories about the College Board natural selection racket shaped its decision, stories that were widely circulated, including to College Board’s board of trustees—although College Board appears to have found Covid-19 a convenient cover for explaining away the test revamp.
Suzan Mazur, “College Board Removes Natural Selection (Unit 7) from AP Biology Exam” at Oscillations
Most likely it was a combination of Mazur getting on the story and a general recognition that full-on Darwinism just isn’t cutting it any more. Stuff that worked in the 1980s isn’t going to fly now that genomes are routinely mapped.
Put another way: If you need grand myths like Darwinism to compete with history, it’s better not to have much of a history. It’s hell when you do have a lot of real history and you still have to make all the myths work.
Independent journalist Suzan Mazur is the author of Darwin Overthrown: Hello, Mechanobiology
The story to date, so far as we know it:
The College Board Exams (Darwin-only evolution) meets COVID-19
At Oscillations: “Natural selection” issue stirs again at College Boards
At Oscillations: How College Board skews students toward Darwinism