If you feel this way why don’t we just take evolution (a religiously controversial subject) out of the curriculum entirely and introduce it at the University level.
@colewd I don’t believe controversy is the issue at all, Bill. It is legality. I think if you seriously focused upon controversy, you’d run into all sorts of issues (debate, for instance, always includes controversial topics, with both sides being argued.) Maybe you were teasing? In that case, you MUST use an emoji!! This one works for most occasions.
Evolution is science. It is now taught in pre-school.
No, I am not teasing. I am putting forward a discussion point that has not been examined. Just remove the subject until you are ready to discuss religion and all the alternatives.
Taking away criticisms of the theory that are legitimate is not educational its indoctrination.
Let the indoctrination begin in preschool.
Here in the UK evolution is taught to those five and above. Schools in and around Oxford recommend this as a resource for teachers https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13722-evolution-myths-religion-and-evolution-are-incompatible/. This how science and religion is regarded in schools in the UK - a sneery NOMA.
If I understand it correctly, there is not the same separation of church and state in the UK as we have in the US. Even then, people should know better than to act as if evolution falsifies religion. They might as well trot out Heliocentrism while they are at it.
There is an obvious secular purpose for teaching science in public schools which is why evolution is not removed from the science curriculum. If students are ever going to go into a career in the biological sciences or pursue a degree in the field then they need to understand the theory of evolution.
9th grade science class is not the proper venue for criticizing a scientific theory. Those conversations need to take place with other scientists through peer reviewed papers, presentations at conferences, and face to face discussions. High school science classes teach the scientific consensus, and the consensus is evolution.
It is not indoctrination, it is science. And science is neutral on the existence of God. If you say Grandmother Fish is indoctrination of children, how so? Would a primer on Gravity or Astronomy be indoctrination as well?
They can learn it in college along with the issues with the theory. The claims in the biology text books are just speculation at this point and supported with an ad populum argument which is a logical fallacy. Most the scientists believe this or most the scientists believe that.
Patrick supports teaching that we evolved from fish to pre schoolers yet if he tried to support that claim given our current knowledge of molecular differences he would struggle.
This not a testable claim yet he wants to tell pre schoolers it is true. Do you see anything wrong with the picture
Ok. How do you test the claim we evolved from fish? If you cannot then you are claiming an untested hypothesis is something that actually happened.
Evolution is not speculation. Evolution is one of the most well supported theories in all of the sciences.
What do you mean it isn’t testable? With the fossil record alone we have fish to amphibian, amphibian to reptile, reptile to mammal, and ape to human transitional fossils. The genetics are also pretty convincing. You may not accept this evidence, but it has convinced the scientific community.
More importantly, it is the theory you need to learn in order to understand biology and work as a biologist.
I support teaching all the sciences as well as reasoning, human empathy, and critical thinking at as young an age as possible. Four year old love dinosaurs. And seven year olds love astronomy. I don’t know what you mean that “I would struggle teaching molecular differences” to children?
This is political rhetoric.
You have amphibians, reptiles and mammals. The TO is a “just so” story with no test that validates the claim.
The only people bringing politics into this are the ones who want evolution removed from schools.
If you can convince the scientific community of these claims then I will support the removal of evolution from the science curriculum in public schools.
Again, how would you test the claim that we evolved from fish. Is the book telling the kids it is a tested hypothesis?
Political rhetoric. No, it is science. The same science that extends human life expectancy and provides for the improvement of the human conditions for billions of people.
Don’t forget the living dinosaurs called birds.
Phylogenetics. If humans evolved from a common ancestor shared with other species then you should see a correlation between phylogenetic trees based on morphology and genetics.
You can read about the nested hierarchy here:
The section detailing how phylogenetics is used to test evolution is found here:
I respectively disagree with you here and believe the existence of the NCSE supports my claim. Evolutions grand claims like universal common ancestry are untested and are clearly ideological in nature.