Teach Evolution: Leave No Child Behind

February 11, 2005 9:53 AM

Teach Evolution: Leave No Child Behind.Teaching the age and history of our planet takes us back about 4.6 billion years; it is included in only 55% of our 50 State’s science education standards. Human evolution is included in only 8% of the state science standards, and is therefore not required in almost all American elementary, middle or high school science courses. (Don't forget Darwin Day is tomorrow, kids!)
posted by travis vocino (10 comments total)

Thanx for the Darwin Day link. From there, I found my way to http://www.edge.org/. Nice to see some intelligence on the web for a change.
posted by weepingsore at 10:54 AM on February 11, 2005

weepingsore: If you enjoy the Darwin Day link, you might also be interested in Evolution vs. Creation forum, Panda's Thumb, Talk Origins and EvoWiki just to name a few.
posted by travis vocino at 11:00 AM on February 11, 2005

You'll probably also be interested in The Origin of Species. If you haven't read it, it's worth at least a brief perusal. Darwin's writing is meticulous and crystal clear. I'd recommend taking a look at chapter seven, in which Darwin deals with various objections to his theories.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:26 AM on February 11, 2005

If you've read On the Origin of Species, you'd probably also like The Beak of the Finch. It's a shorter, lighter read, but still very accurate and interesting.
posted by estelahe at 11:55 AM on February 11, 2005

Those interested in evolution might also want to read the fine books of Ernst Mayer who recently died at the age of 100.
posted by Rashomon at 6:08 PM on February 11, 2005

On the flipside, I recently read Darwin's Black Box and there's nothing in it that adds nuance to the basic I.D. argument of "anything this complicated must have been designed." Oh, except that he takes time to "disprove" the possibility of natural designers, like aliens and time travelers. Behe doesn't outright say "God did it" but he makes darn sure that's the only conclusion readers who agree with his other points will draw.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 6:20 PM on February 11, 2005

PinkStainlessTail takes a break from reading Harry Harrison: "I recently read Darwin's Black Box and there's nothing in it that adds nuance to the basic I.D. argument of 'anything this complicated must have been designed.'"

Why even bother to ask why? If you come across something and you can't figure out how it could have occurred, just claim the event or process is the product of Intelligent Design [skepdic.com].

Why spend year after tedious year engaging in reductionist scientific inquiry when you can just bail out immediately with an answer that cannot be falsified: Intelligent Design [pandasthumb.org].

Worried that your invisible sky-ghost or imaginary all-powerful personal friend isn't getting the deferential worship He deserves in this age of secular humanism? Sneak your sky-ghost back into the schools and indoctrinate another generation of devout sheep with Intelligent Design [talkorigins.org].

Remember the "Argument from Personal Incredulity" [cotch.net]: if you're too thick to figure out how something works, it must be because no one can figure it out! Don't sweat it! Just explain it away by saying it was caused personally God^H^H^H an Intelligent Designer!

Don't waste time asking question or doing science! Just give credit to an Intelligent Designer and go back to sleep!
posted by orthogonality at 7:08 PM on February 11, 2005

In elementary school I never had a single science class. That was from k-6 folks.
posted by j-urb at 10:10 PM on February 11, 2005

Well I was taught evolution theory at my Catholic high school, in science class. You could argue that we were all asked to use a bit of cognitive dissonance, but the important thing is that we were given all of the information. Any arguments that tended towards intelligent design were confined to religious education classes.

Why is it that evolution theory seems to scare so many people in the US? I can't understand how you can ban organised prayer in school and yet let your school curriculum be designed by people who believe that their faith is more important than fact.
posted by bangalla at 1:27 AM on February 12, 2005

...let your school curriculum be designed by people who believe that their faith is more important than fact.

They believe their faith is fact. Know your enemy.
posted by callmejay at 10:41 AM on February 12, 2005