And nobody is talking about replacing science education with religious instruction.
Polls that I have posted links to, indicate that the majority of the population wished to have creation and ID addressed in schools along with, not in place of evolution. Even textbook providers like ABeka and Bob Jones teach both, something that the public schools don’t do, and the consistent academic results are the private school education and home education provide superior results, even with creation being taught.
For all the controversy, the best solution would be to eliminate the teaching of evolution in public schools. There’s plenty of biology that can be studied without ever getting anywhere near the topic. The vast majority of students that are required to take Bio will not be using it in the career field of their choice. Even if they go into science, evolution is only a concern in some biological fields.
Anyone who has that great of a need to learn about the ToE for their chosen profession, can learn in at the college level, and in all likelihood, learn it from far more competent teachers than your average education major.
The whole crux of this issue is control over the public school system between the parents who want one thing, and the liberals and self-appointed elite who think that they know better what is good for everyone else, whether they like it or not and try to force it on the unwilling unwashed masses.
Yes, you really are. These things are true: (1) creationism/ID is a religious belief that relies upon supernatural explanation, not observable phenomena to explain the natural world. It is not a scientific theory; (2) there is a finite amount of time available to public school teachers to educate children about science; (3) if a religious belief like creationism/ID is taught "alongside" scientific theories in public school classrooms, it is necessarily replacing time that would otherwise have been spent on actual science.
For all the controversy, the best solution would be to eliminate the teaching of evolution in public schools.
Again, we are back to the creationsist/IDer's desire to eliminate a scientific theory from public education simply because it conflicts with their religious beliefs. That is not how public education works.
There’s plenty of biology that can be studied without ever getting anywhere near the topic. The vast majority of students that are required to take Bio will not be using it in the career field of their choice. Even if they go into science, evolution is only a concern in some biological fields.
This shows a shocking lack of understanding about the role of the theory of evolution in modern biology. I do not doubt that many public schools do not adequately teach the theory (many out of a fear of reprisal from creationists/IDers), but to suggest that one of the keystones of modern biology should be hidden from students is a ridiculous notion that only serves to bury kids' heads in the sand to keep them away from ideas you consider dangerous.
The whole crux of this issue is control over the public school system between the parents who want one thing, and the liberals and self-appointed elite who think that they know better what is good for everyone else, whether they like it or not and try to force it on the unwilling unwashed masses.
Nonsense.
The crux of the matter is fundamentalists want to censor or remove the theory of evolution from science classes because they think it is inconsistent with their particular religious beliefs.
They want to force their narrow religious interpretations on all students in the guise of, or instead of, science -- contrary to the constitution and case law.
Actually there are . . . the anti-Creationists speak of little else.