Should Schools Teach Evolution as Fact?

[Dayton]

Should schools teach the theory of evolution as fact?

The theory of evolution has not been proven, and it will never be proven, yet public schools teach it as absolute fact. Schools never even mention Creationism, the Truth about how the earth and life was created. It is wrong to indoctrinate innocent children with the theory of evolution without telling them how it really happened.

 

[Jet Black]

evolution is taught in science classes because it is a scientific theory that has held up to scientific scrutiny.

creationism is a theory that was falsified a hundred and fifty years ago. science classes do not teach geocentricism and flat earth models for the same reason.

 

[Pete Harcoff]

Oi, not another debate over the meanings of the words "fact" and "theory".

Evolution is both theory and fact. Evolution occurs today and is continually observed and documented. It is as much a fact as the Sun or gravity.

The theory of evolution involves the mechanisms by which evolution occurs (things like natural selection, genetic drift, etc).

And like JB said, creationism as science has been falsified. It is not valid as a scientific theory and more than flat-Earthism is valid as a scientific theory.

 

[-JaeIsGod-]

Should schools teach the theory of evolution as fact?

The theory of evolution has not been proven, and it will never be proven, yet public schools teach it as absolute fact. Schools never even mention Creationism, the Truth about how the earth and life was created. It is wrong to indoctrinate innocent children with the theory evolution without telling them how it really happened.

Uum , doesnt "Theory of" already kinda show thats its not a 100% fact?

And about how it really happened , so far you haven't shown any decent evidence for your claims.

 

[Jet Black]

Uum , doesnt "Theory of" already kinda show thats its not a 100% fact?

nothing in science is 100% fact, because science is just a model. what he does show is that he misunderstands the scientific meaning of theory, which is something that is taken as (provisionally)true, on account of being repeatedly verified. it is still open to falsification though, if it wasn't it wouldn't be a sicentific theory.

 

[Arikay]

The fact part of evolution should be taught as fact.

The Scientific theory (different than a normal "theory") part should be taught as a Scientific Theory.

Creationism should be taught in religion or philosophy classes.

Creationism should be taught in science as an example of how theories become falsified.

Creationism should not be taught in science as a valid theory, as our teachers should not Lie to their students.

 

[Mechanical Bliss]

Schools never even mention Creationism,

False. I graduated from a publically funded, but reputable, university and creationism was taught at the beginning of introductory classes in geology, paleontology, and anthropological archaeology. And creationism was taught honestly: as being falsified. Things like Ussher's calculation of the age of the earth from the Bible and a worldwide flood being the basis for early geology were indeed taught, as they were part of the emergence of those sciences. Of course the founders of those sciences quickly learned that reality did not substantiate creationism, so it was pronounced false nearly two centuries ago.

the Truth about how the earth and life was created. It is wrong to indoctrinate innocent children with the theory of evolution without telling them how it really happened.

How can you call it "truth" and put it in a science class if it is not substantiated by science nor is it scientifically valid?

 

[ifriit]

Uum , doesnt "Theory of" already kinda show thats its not a 100% fact?

Not quite. There is both evolutionary fact and evolutionary theory, much as there is gravitic fact and gravitic theory. The facts tell us what happened/happens, and the theories expain why they happen. For example, take gravity: the fact is that gravitic force causes mass to attract and to effectively distort spacetime. However, why it does is somewhat mysterious right now, though there are several theories such as that of gravitons. Similarly, we have a strong correlation between species and geochronological locations; we have similarity of biological structures between animals of different species; we have genetic similarities of the same; we have allele distibution within a species; we have observed instances of speciation. All of these are facts. Evolutionary theory explains why these things are as they are.

And about how it really happened , so far you haven't shown any decent evidence for your claims.

I'm sorry, but your ignorance of the evidence does not make it non-existant, nor does it mean it hasn't been shown. If you have specific issues, it would be easier to address, but a general overview as well as fairly extensive details can be found at www.talkorigins.org.

 

[Pete Harcoff]

I'm sorry, but your ignorance of the evidence does not make it non-existant, nor does it mean it hasn't been shown. If you have specific issues, it would be easier to address, but a general overview as well as fairly extensive details can be found at www.talkorigins.org.

Psst, -JaeIsGod- was referring to Dayton's post where he said, "It is wrong to indoctrinate innocent children with the theory of evolution without telling them how it really happened.".

Jae is saying that Dayton has no evidence of his claims.

 

[-JaeIsGod-]

Not quite. There is both evolutionary fact and evolutionary theory, much as there is gravitic fact and gravitic theory. The facts tell us what happened/happens, and the theories expain why they happen. For example, take gravity: the fact is that gravitic force causes mass to attract and to effectively distort spacetime. However, why it does is somewhat mysterious right now, though there are several theories such as that of gravitons. Similarly, we have a strong correlation between species and geochronological locations; we have similarity of biological structures between animals of different species; we have genetic similarities of the same; we have allele distibution within a species; we have observed instances of speciation. All of these are facts. Evolutionary theory explains why these things are as they are.



I'm sorry, but your ignorance of the evidence does not make it non-existant, nor does it mean it hasn't been shown. If you have specific issues, it would be easier to address, but a general overview as well as fairly extensive details can be found at www.talkorigins.org.

Hmm , I think we got things mixed up a bit. I was arguing against Dayton , by saying that we dont teach evolution as absolute fact since we teach the THEORY of evolution =p
And that evidence request was also ment for Dayton , I have followed his work in various treads and he never showed any decent evidence.

Sorry if my earlier post was a little vague. Ill try to be more clear in the future =]

 

[ifriit]

Hmm , I think we got things mixed up a bit. I was arguing against Dayton , by saying that we dont teach evolution as absolute fact since we teach the THEORY of evolution =p
And that evidence request was also ment for Dayton , I have followed his work in various treads and he never showed any decent evidence.

Sorry if my earlier post was a little vague. Ill try to be more clear in the future =]

Hah, that figures. Sorry about that.

Nonetheless, I think it's a distinction we should push--there are evolutionary facts that give basis to the theory. Saying that it's all theory or all fact is somewhat misleading.

 

[Freodin]

I think this is rather a problem with the school system than with "facts", "theories" or "truth".

Science in schools is to teach the basics to children. It is not about research, or debate, or finding out which of the coflicting theories in whatever area of science is "true".

It is to teach children what science IS, how the scientific method works, and what this method has told us until now.

As the ToE is the recent accepted theory it should be taught as fact. Everything else would only disrupt teaching and lead to endless, meaningless debates about philosophical systems. (As we see on this forum)

Creationism as a scientific theory should also be taught, as it also shows how the scientific method works. It should be taught as what it is: a falsified theory.

Creation, God and the alternative possibilities for our existence should also be taught - as what it is: religion and philosophy.

I am not so educated about the american school system, and as I have seen from various posts, it is pretty diverse.

But in German schools, Evolution is taught where it belongs: in Biology - and Religion is taught where it belongs also: in Religion Classes (which are mostly held by priests!)

 

[wblastyn]

I live in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and I was never taught creationism in school even though it was considered a Christian school (we prayed in every assembly, etc but anyone of any religion could go).

We were taught evolution though, the teacher's usually made it clear that they weren't attacking anyone's religious beliefs or just explained the processes without actually telling us it was evolution until we were finished to avoid arguments (she called it "mechanism of change" or something, then when she finished teaching it she said "btw, that's evolution").

Interestingly, one biology teacher, who is a Christian, made a passing comment about abiogenesis, it sounded like he accepted it.

 

[ZaraDurden]

I had biology class about 5 years ago, and if i can remember correctly, both evolution and creationism were actually included in my science book, which i think is kind of suprising.

I remember an incident where my teacher told us he was going to show us a video on evolution, and kind of with a smirk on his face he said "if you object to this video, you can go choose not to watch it and sit in the back of the classroom."

At the time i was a chrisitan who still had questions about evolution, and i thought he was really being a jerk by kind of making a joke about people who might go sit in the back.

The funny thing is, two girls, very smart (number 1 and 2 in my graduating class actually) went and sat in the back. I can imagine then, he really felt like a jerk.

At the same time, i disagreed with what those girls were doing. Why not be open to the possibility of evolution? It could be true, for all anyone knows. They were only impeding their own knowledge.

Anyway, i think evolution should be taught in science as the best theory we have to date on why life is on this planet as we see it, and creationism should be left to religion class, not in a science book.

 

[chud247]

Hmm.. whats funny about this topic is the choice of whether evolution or creation should be taught in schools. After my learning of the newly defined evolution theory... I beleive creation should be taught in schools and the process of small evolution, adaptation and natural selection should be taught.

 

[Jet Black]

evolution should be taught as a scientific theory, creation(ism) should remain confined to religious classes.

 

[wblastyn]

I had biology class about 5 years ago, and if i can remember correctly, both evolution and creationism were actually included in my science book, which i think is kind of suprising.

Yes, my biology text book had both creationism and evolution in it for some reason.

 

[Arikay]

In my school, in biology, I wasnt taught Creationism, I was only taught that there were those who had religious problems with it, and I believe they could leave the class and do another assignment when they were teaching Evolution, but I believe only one kid did.

 

[Arikay]

P.S. You guys had books?

We had packets set up in Lab sections. We did have books but we rarely used them, doing more Lab type experiments than book reading. I am actually not sure if our books did contain creationism.

 

[Siliconaut]

@chud247:

Hmm.. whats funny about this topic is the choice of whether evolution or creation should be taught in schools. After my learning of the newly defined evolution theory... I beleive creation should be taught in schools and the process of small evolution, adaptation and natural selection should be taught.

I'm not sure what you term "newly defined evolution theory" and where you draw your info from.

What always cracks me up is YECs accepting "micro-evolution" as fact, and then failing to take the intellectual step of accepting "macro-evolution" as being a succession of micro- after micro-evolution. It really does.