Posted on 01/07/2005 2:42:22 PM PST by Ed Current
The "creation" controversy has splashed down in Gull Lake, Mich. Last spring, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette, a parent complained that two middle school biology teachers were giving the concept of "intelligent design" equal treatment in the classroom with the theory of evolution. The district has told them to stop, and both are now crying foul, appealing to the community for help.
Gull Lake parents are divided.
"Intelligent design," or ID, contends that the diversity of life on Earth and the complexity of some biological systems could not have arisen by means of evolution. To correct that perceived inadequacy, ID stipulates that an "intelligent designer" authored the world’s species.
Proponents argue that intelligent design is a serious scientific theory, and that, at the very least, its existence should be taught in biology classes. Opponents dismiss it as a superficially secular attempt to inject biblical creationism into public school classrooms – a Lamb of God in sheep’s clothing.
Michigan isn’t alone. All told, roughly 40 states are now embroiled in battles over the teaching of evolution. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of Pennsylvania parents objecting to their school board’s decision to teach ID. Eugenie C. Scott of the National Center for Science Education told the Gazette that "by lobbying school boards to include creationism or weaken evolution in their science curricula, (biblical) creationists are politicizing science education."
But Ms. Scott understates the problem — and mislays the blame.
Every aspect of the public school curriculum, not just science education, is inherently political. Decisions over what and how to teach are made by elected and appointed government officials. Because there is only one official state organ of education, everyone wants it to conform to their own views.
That is impossible.
In a pluralistic society, there are countless different and incompatible worldviews. Our effort to serve that diverse audience through a monolithic school system has not only failed to forge common ground; it has bred animosity and discord.
But this failure of compelled conformity is no cause for alarm; it is unnecessary to force all Americans to accept a single view on the origins of man. While there are certainly issues on which consensus is important in a free society, such as a commitment to the democratic process, respect for the rule of law and equal rights for all citizens, the origin of humanity is not among them.
Nor is it clear that centrally planned public schooling is the best means of nurturing societal agreement in those special areas where it is important. Research shows private school students to be as tolerant and civic-minded as their public school counterparts, and it also shows private schools to be, if anything, more meaningfully integrated than public schools.
Private schools, with their diverse world views, coexist as peacefully as private churches. If every family in America had the financial resources to choose the public or private school they preferred, as they would under a universal education tax credit system, we could enjoy the same harmonious relations in education that we have experienced in the field of religion. Thanks to the separation of church and state, American religious life has avoided most of the political and ideological conflicts that have beset our official state schools.
And honestly, is anyone happy with the way schools currently handle this issue?
Adherents of intelligent design presumably aren’t. They must fight to have their views heard in the public schools, and when they succeed, they immediately face legal challenges. Even if ID prevails in court (as biblical creationism did not), will science teachers present it in a way that will satisfy its advocates?
Adherents of evolution have nothing to cheer about, either. Virtually all biologists see evolution as the fundamental structuring principle of their entire discipline. By contrast, schools often teach it as a brief, isolated unit to avoid controversy. Tellingly, after generations of public school instruction in the theory of evolution, a recent Gallup poll found that 45 percent of Americans believe humanity is the comparatively recent product of divine creation, while only one-third believe that evolution is a theory well-supported by scientific evidence.
These results must dismay most scientists, and they should cause intelligent design advocates to question the wisdom of entrusting their own views to the public schools.
Back in Gull Lake, both sides are digging in their heels, and accusations of miseducation and brainwashing have started to fly. So long as we stick with a single official state school system, however, there will always be ideological winners and losers, and such antagonism will remain.
Wouldn’t we all be better off giving school choice a chance instead?
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Andrew J. Coulson is senior fellow for education policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the Center are properly cited.
Poing...
Yeah. Might as well deploy the list ...
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That would be pure democracy. Mob rule.
I hear you, but yet its debated. Perhaps my wife and I have a unique perspective, as she is molecular biologists, and we are both Evangelicals.
I have no problem with the schools teaching the scientific theory of the continuing evolution of species as science. It is, I think, well established, and to a large degree testable by scientific experiment.
However when talking about the origins of life itself, and the universe through the big bang "theory" we are in the realm of pure speculation or to the modern secular list a matter of faith...and herein lies the reason we are still debating this whole issue; the secularists are seeking to elevate their faith in these things to the status of what can be scientifically verified thus demoting alternative faiths to the status of quaint disproved superstition. Moreover they want to accomplish this through controlling what children are taught rather then debating it with other adults.
Just part of the secularists establishing their own state religion in which the "Creator" (a higher moral authority then themselves) is not allowed.
Science is not a popularity contest.
"Science is not a popularity contest."
Unless scientists want to be funded.
You are wrong. Rational parents will always want their children to have the best education possible, including understand science. If you want to educate yours differently, so much the better for ours.
Thank you for providing yet another example of the kind of civility freely available from evolutionists.
How amusing, coming from someone who regularly castigates those who disagree as liberals and atheists. Is yours the sort of civility they teach in Sunday schools nowadays?
How is acknowledging self-admitted atheists "castigating?" Do the FR atheists know that you think "atheist" is pejorative?
According to that freeloading bastard on TV with all those question marks sewn on his suit, the government will give you money for just about anything. You don't even have to write a grant request, which should be good news for your average creationist.
That's right, you'll get no armtwisting from me. I don't care how kooky your professed beliefs are.
Of course, if you prefer people whose diplomacy of speech is surpassed only by their proclivity for extortion, I'm sure there's a government job waiting for you.
Sell children on the open market?
You make a good point.
Do you post on EVERY thread, or just every thread that I post on?
I'm a legend in the Hobbit Hole.
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