Strangely enough, the country managed to survive back when it WAS being taught. And your hyperbolizing is easily dismissed; nobody is talking about having Creation class or even stopping the teaching of Evolution. It is simply about acknowledging an alternative theory that happens to be the majority view in the USA.
“Because the public school system has failed” is not adequate enough an excuse to adopt a position that they should not be allowed to teach a subject. Otherwise, they would teach nothing.
And for the record, before you start your next line of attack, I do not believe that the Earth was created in six 24-hour periods, no do I believe it is 5000 years old. But I do believe in Federalism and original intent, and I am not interested in the banning of ideas in the public arena, much less ideas which enjoy the support of a large percentage of the public.
O'Donnell is right about the legality of it, right about the First Amendment, and right about the rights of local school board to decide for themselves. She gave the right answers, and there is nothing stupid about giving the right answers.
My concern is the teaching of subjects that are based on belief & faith, rather than fact, by an instructor who may have neither the belief nor faith. My concern is also that children will be force to learn beliefs that are completely opposed to those of the parents & family.
Given the diverse nature of American students, it is unreasonable to teach one belief system to the exclusion of all others, in gov't run schools. It is equally unreasonalbe to teach multiple belief systems re. creation & expect students to be anything other than confused.
“nobody is talking about having Creation class...”. It was certainly what O'Donnell & Coons were talking about.
As for way back when: This country was overwhelmingly Christian, school was not a function of gov’t, & there was no legal requirement for attendance. Our demographics are very different from 200+ years ago.
Forcing a Jewish child to memorize & be tested on the muslim version of creation in Dearborn, MI is just plain wrong, even if that is what the locals there prefer. That is indoctrination, not education.