Creation science is the belief that the universe and living organisms originate from specific acts of divine creation, as in the biblical account, rather than by natural processes such as evolution. The problem with teaching creation science is that it is mainly a religious belief, and I do not believe religious beliefs should ever be taught as facts in public schools.
In this particular instance, I think the people in charge need to put aside their personal beliefs and realize what makes sense. Just because you believe in creationism, or evolution, or anything else does not mean that the students in your state should believe that same thing as you. The job of schools is to educate the students on the proven facts, and not skew facts with their personal opinions. Opinions are personal after all, so they should be made the individual students, and not the people teaching them.
Could you imagine if you came to class one day and your teacher proceeded to explain to you that 9/11 was an inside job, staged by President Bush in order to get the American people to support the war effort, as if those were the facts? This is why the schools should simply teach the facts as facts, and teach theories as theories. What would make most sense would be for the schools to present the scientific evidence we have to support evolution, as well as the gaps in the evidence we have, and also teach that creation science is another popular theory.
Do you think schools should decide what particular ideas to present to its students? Do you think religious concepts even belong in public schools?
Whenever I see debates over something like this (teaching religious beliefs in a public classroom), I'm always confused as to why it should be up for debate at all. The first amendment of our country's constitution clearly states that citizens have a right to their religious beliefs... but that also means a right FROM the religious beliefs of others. I do think it's important to learn about the many religions of the world and their beliefs, but a science classroom is not the place for that. At New Trier, for example, we learn about the world's religions in Social Studies class, a class more geared towards helping us learn about the world around us and formulate opinions about why things are the way they are. In science, little is left up to us as students to form opinions towards, because the class is driven by facts. And, as much as some people would like to believe it is, religion is not fact.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ben in that our first amendment protects our rights to religion and views, and also protects us from it. The other part of me wonders why it is fair to teach one thing in school, and not the other. I think that both should be taught in school, and then kids get to decide what they wish to believe. It is only fair that both are taught equally, though I don't think that Creation Science should be taught or classified as a "science" at all. It belongs in a social studies or religion studies class.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I can say that evolution is actually not fact. It is a scientific theory. And so it is important to learn about such as a theory in our classes. Therefore, why should creation be excluded as it is also a theory? I am pretty sure, regardless of the religion, the basic idea is the same in all of them, so I do not think it would be offensive in that aspect. And no one is telling you that you must believe this. It is just providing you with all the possibilities.
ReplyDeleteThat is simply my opinion. I can understand not wanting to teach creation, as the theory of evolution is a bit more substantial. But who would you be to say that one is true and the other is not without truly knowing?
So because neither religion, nor evolution are proven facts-- I would present them both as theory, like you basically said as well. Because, like Jayce said about if one of them is taught at one institution but not at another... then how could anyone decide what to believe for themselves?