The teaching of evolution in public school has been a highly debated topic. We all learned about the "scopes monkey trial" where John Scopes was arrested for teaching about evolution in a Tennessee public school in 1925. Since then there have been numerous court cases and lawsuits brought upon schools for the teaching of either creationism or evolution. While they are both theories, evolution is backed up by both morphological and molecular evidence. Creationism is supported by the bible, but holds little merit from a scientific point of view.
The separation of church and state was clearly defined by our founding fathers in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Therefore, the teaching of a theory that is only backed up by the bible should be prohibited. Recently, the Kansas school board decided that along with evolution, they would begin to teach the theory of "intelligent design." This was simply a re-worded form of creationism.
The following website was created when a parent of a Kansas school student wrote a letter to the Board of education asking them to consider the teaching of his theory of "creation." His "Flying Spaghetti Monster" is backed up by more evidence than intelligent design. He even includes charts and graphs.
4 comments:
Being a science teacher, I understand far too well the fragility and sensitivity of teaching evolution to middle school students. Unfortunately, in this day and age, what a teacher says in the classroom can be misconstrewed into something completely different when a child repeats it at home.
I always stress to my students that evolution is scientifically based and it is not the ONLY theory to how "things came to be this way." I always try my best not to convey my personal beliefs when teaching this sort of material because ultimately it is not important what I think, it's important what the student thinks.
You need to read Darwin's Black Box, a book on the biochemical evidence AGAINST Darwinian evolution. It's a very interesting (and sometimes overwhelming)book. Maybe I will let you borrow it sometime. :)
I'm so glad I don't teach science. I would hate to have to deal with problem. Teaching reading provides its own challenges, since I have to becareful not to choose anything that would upset people, like Harry Potter. Fortunately I teach in the younger grades so there are several "safe" books to choose from. However, I think if I was teaching HS I would want my students read something that isn't too "sweet."
HOw on earth did you find my blog?
Thanks for the comment! I just hit the "Next Blog" button at the top of the page and randomly arrive at blogs. Sometimes i arrive at a good page like yours! Good luck with the younglings, i know i could never work with students younger than middle school.
thanks for reading
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