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To: William McKinley
I don't get not teaching creationism. Now, I may be biased because I am religious, but doesn't it just make sense to teach it based on how much of our population believes it?

Not in science class, no! Science classes should be teaching kids what the consensus view of working scientists is. And that's evolution, overwhelmingly.

How are we supposed to function as a nation if half the people aren't taught what the other half believe, at least enough to understand the way they think and where they are coming from?

I don't see anything wrong with that. But the underlying debate in the school boards across the country is more what the official curricula and textbooks will be. That's quite different than discussing a fringe theory in class when a student asks about it.

I think a good analogy is discussing astrology in astronomy class. Should astrology be included in the textbooks? Hardly. (Except to point out why it can't be right.) Or discussing Communism in economics class. Sure, it's historically important, but should the textbooks describe it neutrally, as in "here's another theory that some economists hold"? I would hope not!

Well, intellectually & professionally, creationism is just as far from the consensus view of science as those two. I say HS science classes should treat it with the same amount of deference. (Ditto for undergrad college courses.)

Now, in upper level college classes, it might be different. I wouldn't mind seeing a graduate level seminar in ID, if a professor wanted to teach one. Colleges seem to be the place where any damfool idea can get a respectful hearing. :-)

15 posted on 10/30/2003 7:23:00 PM PST by jennyp (http://crevo.bestmessageboard.com)
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To: jennyp
I think it's unfair to analogize from Marx to theories of Intelligent Design. Yes, ID hasn't advanced very far since Thomas Aquinas, back in the Middle Ages.

Yet - science can't rule God out, by definition. True science cannot measure God, thus, must be agnostic when it comes to God. So, depending on the curriculum, there is a place for that to be said.
17 posted on 10/30/2003 7:34:47 PM PST by CobaltBlue
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To: jennyp
Science classes should be teaching kids what the consensus view of working scientists is
I highly disagree. The consensus view of 'working scientists' right now is that global warming is a fact. Thirty years ago the consensus view was that global cooling was a fact.

The things which are facts should be taught as facts. The things which are theories should be taught as theories-- with the predominant counter theories also explored.

21 posted on 10/30/2003 7:48:39 PM PST by William McKinley
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