Last week, in another blow to common sense and American high
school education, Georgia announced that it would be taking the
word “evolution” out of its biology curriculum. This
policy compromises educational standards by seeking to marry
religious belief with scientific theory.
Even Kansas, America’s breadbasket and conservative
stronghold, overturned their 1999 decision to remove evolutionary
theory from their schools. After the original decision had been
made, only one of the anti-evolutionary board members was
re-elected. The people of Kansas apparently did not want their
religion and their public education to mix.
This resounding mandate for evolution is a good sign that most
people in America can differentiate between science and belief.
And, in a country where 83 percent of the population believes in
the immaculate conception (compared to only 28 percent for
evolution), it shows that we can leave our dogmas at the
schoolhouse door.
Science and belief are innately different and should be treated
as such, especially in schools. Belief, by definition, is a
faith-based system. It does not require, nor does it even really
want, evidence. Science, on the other hand, is based on evidence
““ the theory fits the facts. To create ad hoc theories is to
practice bad science. Good science ““ what we should be
teaching in ninth grade biology ““ does not ignore
contradictory evidence. Good religion ““ what we should be
teaching in Sunday school ““ must accept that any
contradictory evidence has no bearing on their fundamental
tenets.
Evolutionary theory is the result of almost 150 years of science
that went on after Darwin’s original conception of the
origins of species. Its ideas are so entwined into the fabric of
modern biology that nothing makes sense without it. To argue that
evolution is “just” a theory, as some creationists have
done, is misleading.
A scientific theory is a very different animal from a lay
theory. As Stephen Gould wrote in Discover, “facts and
theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of
increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories
are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.”
Evolution, as Gould says, is both a theory and a fact:
“Evolutionists have been very clear about this distinction of
fact and theory from the very beginning, if only because we have
always acknowledged how far we are from completely understanding
the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact) occurred.”
Thus, to call evolution “just” a theory, does a
disservice to the vocabulary of science and ignores the extensive
evidence in support of evolution.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Georgia’s school board
is attempting to defend their decision by saying that evolution is
“unwelcome in many parts of the state,” calling it a
“buzzword that causes a lot of negative reactions.”
While not surprising in the heart of the Bible belt, it flies in
the face of the objective nature of public education.
“Negative reactions” is not a viable criterium for
curriculum.
When evolution is taught in schools, it is taught based on
objective, scientific evidence. The classroom is a place of reason,
where controversy does not control curriculum. Beliefs, no matter
how strong and prevalent in society, should not be taught in
schools. Like a president leading by poll numbers, a school run by
popularity does a disservice to the students it claims to teach,
making them unprepared for a life in a world where there is no
school board dictating truths.
A common objection from the right wing about
“liberal” teachers in school is that they are
corrupting students with subjective ideas. They cannot have it both
ways. Creationism is as subjective as things get. In the process of
objectifying our schools, the first thing we should do is remove
creationism, not evolution.
American culture is filled with Judeo-Christian references. From
our crusading president to popular programming like “Angels
in America” and “Joan of Arcadia,” God is
literally everywhere. But omnipotence does not automatically allot
a desk in the classroom. There is a reason it is called faith, it
cannot be taught in the classroom. Any creed worth its fish and
wine should be able to deal with a basic biology lesson.
Moon is a second-year psychology student. E-mail him at
jmoon@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.