Evolution being taught in public schools

[Gio]

What are your thoughts on evolution being taught in public schools? When I was in public school, my school taught evolution.

I am personally against it, as why are they pushing the theory of evolution on me, but yet when the idea to discuss Creationism is brought up, everyone goes ham?

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I actually think schools should focus on teaching students what actually matters. Evolution and creation will get a student no where in life. Schools need to focus on getting our kids prepared for employment, living on their own and having a healthy life.

I have learned more in college than I have ever learned in school. In fact, most of what I learned in school - I never used and therefore forgot...

 

[Sam]

Evolution is fact- whether or not you accept it.

There are two examples of evolution that we have seen to verify this:

- Antibiotic resistant bacteria.
- Peppered Moth

Read more: http://ibguides.com/biology/notes/evolution
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/IB_Biology ... _Evolution

Just because evolution cannot 100% say how life was formed on Earth (it can only provide ideas as to how this has happened) it still shows species evolution and confirms that our planet was created well over 10,000 years ago.

(IB is what I did so that's why I referenced IB guides).

You can still believe in a deity and evolution.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

You say evolution is a fact and it might be however it was invented by man, a species capable of being dishonest. Sure you have all so 'scientific facts', bells and whistles to 'claim' evolution is real but does that really prove its real?

And no offense, but I wouldn't view Wikipedia as a source of accurate information. If you cite that site in college, you usually get a horrible grade for doing so. 😛

Anyone can edit Wikipedia.

But back to the topic, whether evolution is true or not, how does it prepare a student for real life issues? As far as I can tell, I've never had to use evolution in part of my job, my residence and so on...

 

[Black Angel]

That is true. Wikipedia can be edited, that is why I would go by the source of the info posted on Wikipedia as it is usually credible and immune to the lame old "Wikipedia can be edited" excuse.

Also, considering the fact that they have gotten to be more vigilant on those who just edit for whatever reason and eliminating "junk" especially those without legitimate sources, it is safe to say that they have only become more credible over the years, and so, I wouldn't put too much stock in that old excuse.

Furthermore, the Bible was also written and edited by people and yet, people consider it to be irrefutable fact. It wasn't written by God, it was written by people and while God would have been the ideal candidate to write what would be considered the set of laws and guidelines for all mankind to follow, since he/she/it would be immune human traits like jealousy, hate, stupidity, lust or greed, or their own personal agendas, humans themselves would not, and are imperfect and yet that was who God trusted to write the Bible.

Since the Bible is intentionally vague, and has been used as a tool to justify the most heinous of human offenses, I would say that the Bible really isn't much more reliable than any other work of fiction. It is extremely hard to believe that a God that is said to be as powerful and as perfect as he/she/it is, would have to rely on humans, (as many as 40 men over the course of 1,500 years) to write the guidelines for all of mankind to follow, and with as many times as it has been translated, without any personal slant what so ever.

(Don't get me wrong here, I am not saying anything against the Bible, religion or those who believe in it, I am just pointing out the fact that both it and Wikipedia are written by people, and have been used in debates as facts, and yet, are treated completely different, and that any argument used against Wikipedia, can also be used against the Bible.)

Anyway, some people need something to believe in, the world would probably be an even more messed up place if everyone believed that there was no higher power who would punish those who did wrong and reward those who did right. And it would be even worse if everyone believed that they weren't loved at all especially unconditionally by said higher power. Everyone just wouldn't care and this planet would be even more miserable than it is now as a result.

That being said though, religion does have its place, just not in the class room. This is usually the difference between public and private school. Private schools that are funded privately should be able to teach whatever they want. Because they are funded privately. They can even teach Pastafarianism if they wanted to.

Public schools are usually funded by the government for the most part, and the people. Not everyone believes in the same deity/religion or believe in one at all and so, it makes perfect sense that public schools would just want to stick to the facts and leave everything else up to the parents and the kids' private lives.

I personally believe that science and religion can coexist. There is no exclusion of one or the other from my stand point. Science offers an explanation for how things came to be over time but they do not offer much on its origin.

This is where religion would come into play. It offers an explanation of the origin, but is pretty fuzzy on the details. It would be against scientific principle to believe that we got here as a result of evolution, when it had to start somewhere. Science teaches us that for every cause, there is an effect, and that for every action, there is a reaction.

So, even if we did evolve from single-celled organisms to what we are today, there is still the question of how that organism came to be. So if religion offers an explanation for that, then what is the harm in believing that science and religion support each other? What would be wrong with saying that God (or some higher power) started the Big Bang which, in turn, lead to the series of events that led us to where we are today?

The reason why evolution is taught in school is because it answers the question of how we got here, how our surroundings came to be and how we relate to them, in the same way that math is taught because it teaches us how to answer the question of "what's 2 + 2" and it teaches us about numbers, counting and how they relate to each other.

I agree that kids should be taught the things that can help them in life. However, I always believed that extraneous stuff was taught not because of relevance to our lives outside of school, but rather exercising the part of our brain that we would need to use when that type of thinking or reasoning was needed.

There is no amount of schooling that will prepare you for life, because what you were taught will always be different from what you experience. You can't teach experience, and it is why I and probably many others have learned more outside of school than they did in it.

Your mileage will always vary.

 

[jrodge187]

I have to say that I agree with Jack Frost who replied to your post first.

Schools spend so much time teaching kids useless stuff that will get them nowhere in life, the things that really matter are not being tought.

Like how to survive, how to improve your health, how to cook decent meals, etc.

Not Algebra and Religous Education and the like.

I say save those type's of topics for College and University, that way it will be tought to people who want to learn about it making it more effective.

I was tought lots of BS at school and the only thing I really use in every day life now is Math and English but you learn that stuff anyway, all you need to know is how to budget to make sure you don't go broke lol

I am somewhat successful and I work for myself, I earn a residual income from home in comfort and I can safely say that school did not teach me anything that has led to this. School will have me believe that I need to break my ass for 65 years in the hope of some magical promotion, millions of people die chasing this dream and never get there, that is tragic.

I'm not saying all schools teach BS, but a lot of them overwhelm you with things that you just don't need in life and I don't see the point in it.

Rant over.

 

[pandaa]

I'm fine with evolution being taught in schools, because it is currently the accepted scientific theory as to how species change over time. People "go ham" when creationism is taught in schools because creationism has no scientific evidence; rather, it is a religious belief. If you sign up to take a science class, you should expect to learn about the current knowledge of science, not religion.

 

[Gio]

If you sign up to take a science class, you should expect to learn about the current knowledge of science, not religion.

But what about in public schools when there is no option but to take it?

 

[froggyboy604]

I don't like the idea of schools teaching Evolution since it does not seem as useful as Entrepreneurship, Math, Reading and Writing, and many schools here don't have a lot of money to spend on more courses, so more useful courses like Art, Music, Drama, and Sewing could end up getting cut to fund another course, or buy more books for a course. Plus, Art, Music, Drama, and Sewing can be more useful than learning about Evolution because Artist, Musicians, Actors, and Fashion Designers are creators who use their skills to create content for a living, and others to enjoy.

There are many books at the library, and websites related to Evolution, so if someone wants to learn about Evolution, no one is stopping them to learn about Evolution if they want to learn about Evolution on their own time for free, or pay money to learn about Evolution in College.

I feel schools should teach subjects which will better prepare students for running a small business, and better employment options in higher skilled careers like web development, medicine, and technical writing since there are now fewer jobs in manufacturing, farming, and manual labor jobs because of robots, cheaper labor, and lack of demand for certain products like VHS tapes, CDs, typewriters, and film cameras.

 

[Carson]

If you sign up to take a science class, you should expect to learn about the current knowledge of science, not religion.

But what about in public schools when there is no option but to take it?

Same goes. Scientific fact should be what is taught in the science classroom. We don't argue about teaching the theory of gravity in schools just because there is a small chunk of people who disagree or there are a few things we don't know about it (gravity at a quantum level).

Evolution has overwhelming evidence for it and it is proven to the extent that gravity is. Creationism has very little rigorous evidence for it and virtually no evidence against evolution.

 

[Tindris]

If you didn't teach it, you wouldn't be able to teach much else related to any scientific subject for the same reasoning. We don't know, we can't know exactly what the truth is, but as Panda says, evolution is the scientific confirmed theory. Without it, you would have a lot of problems when moving on to study at university. Our whole school and education system is built upon science, not religion or any other theories. Science is not made to be mixed with theories, that there is no real proof for.

 

[Livid Legends]

Against it. Stupid atheists.

 

[Luke]

I am strongly not religious and choose to believe in science. Yes you guys go on about that "man can make mistakes" to try and cover up all the mistakes in the bible when science disproves them, but wasn't the bible made by man too? 😉

There is a lot of material which is nonsense in the bible, and I think that since evolution has been observed (http://news.discovery.com/animals/videos/evolution-is-happening-right-before-your-eyes-video.htmyes you can actually see it happening throughout your life time[/url]), it's something which should be taught in school.

I think religion is quite a touchy subject because in most countries and the world, those who choose not to believe are at a minority compared to those who do. The bible though seems to in my mind be fiction. There's so many contradictions through it that it can hardly be seen as facts. There's some good examples at: http://bit.ly/1enLWEA and here's a good example.

Should we kill?

• Exodus 20:13 "Thou shalt not kill."
• Leviticus 24:17 "And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death."
  vs
• Exodus 32:27 "Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, . . . and slay every man his brother, . . . companion, . . . neighbour."
• I Samuel 6:19 " . . . and the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter."
• I Samuel 15:2,3,7,8 "Thus saith the Lord . . . Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. . . . And Saul smote the Amalekites . . . and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword."
• Numbers 15:36 "And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses."
• Hosea 13:16 "they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with children shall be ripped up."

I think everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I think the world would be better without religion, or without so many believes. Some of the Middle Eastern believes are absolutely crazy and scary and even Christianity has some extreme believes too. I was bought up at a school where we went to Church everyday. If you didn't believe in religion you were seen as an outcast in society, just like what happens all around the world. Religion has killed people, discriminated against certain people or groups and has hated many people or groups. Some people get killed for not believing in religion, that's just crazy and wrong.

Those who aren't religious aren't favoured in society, which I think is unfair. You're entitled to your beliefs and we're entitled to our own. I've seen people on talk shows get told to just f**k off and die by Christians because someone didn't believe in religion. They said that because they don't believe in a higher power and all that stuff that they are living for no reason, should just go and die and have a lack of intelligence. I heard one person on Fox News saying that if you don't want to believe in religion, don't bother living here.

A little girl hung herself after her father died because she wanted to see her father, that's going very extreme. Enjoy this life. If there is an afterlife, that's great but I don't think that people should be believing things like this if we can't prove this. Kids shouldn't be worried about their parents going to hell or themselves going to hell just for not believing in something, or doing something against the contradicting bible.

I have no problem with god, I just can not stand his fan club.

I think these quotes for famous people who don't believe are quite good:

Lance Armstrong - At the end of the day, if there was indeed some Body or presence standing there to judge me, I hoped I would be judged on whether I had lived a true life, not on whether I believed in a certain book, or whether I’d been baptised. If there was indeed a God at the end of my days, I hoped he didn’t say, “But you were never a Christian, so you’re going the other way from heaven.” If so, I was going to reply, “You know what? You’re right. Fine.

Angelina Jolie - Is there a God? Hmm… For some people. I hope so, for them. For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn’t need to be a God for me. There’s something in people that’s spiritual, that’s godlike. I don’t feel like doing things just because people say things, but I also don’t really know if it’s better to just not believe in anything, either.

Bill Gates - Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.

Morgan Freeman - We invented God.

Just something to think about. You have your beliefs, we have ours. But don't outcast us just because we choose not to believe.

 

[CM30]

I'm a scientific person living in the UK (where creationism is seen as flat out crazy). So I'm perfectly fine with evolution being taught in schools, since its the closest thing we have to an actually scientific explanation for where life came from.

 

[Deleted member 1609]

Creationism, an unfalsifiable idea with no possible empirical evidence to support it, belongs in elective theology classes. Evolution, which is a falsifiable theory that has been supported with empirical evidence (making it scientific), belongs in science classrooms. End of story.

 

[pandaa]

But what about in public schools when there is no option but to take it?

I still think it's fine. Evolution is a small part of the science curriculum anyway. But, learning about a theory that doesn't agree with someone's personal viewpoint doesn't cause any harm.

 

[Luke]

Creationism, an unfalsifiable idea with no possible empirical evidence to support it, belongs in elective theology classes. Evolution, which is a falsifiable theory that has been supported with empirical evidence (making it scientific), belongs in science classrooms. End of story.

I agree, seems unfair to teach kids the wrong thing, so you might as well teach what is scientifically proven!

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I know one thing... If I had kids, they wouldn't go to public schools.

 

[Oxycide]

I was taught Evolution and im actually glad i was, whilst it hasnt landed me a star studded career i've learnt things from it that i find interested ... besides if i wasnt taught it i probably would have failed my science exams :/

 

[Fen]

I feel sorry for American kids. Some are taken out of school and home schooled simply because their parents are so brainwashed by religion.