Evolution is Science

It's a battle that has been going on for years and there is no end is in sight. This is the battle of evolution versus creation. By the words of the Constitution, we are not supposed to teach the theory of creationism in public schools. The theory of evolution is considered science, so it is okay to include it in the curriculum (according to the government). This is not to say I oppose the theory of creation, but I believe that public schools should stick to the facts of science and continue to teach evolution in schools.

According to his article in Time Magazine entitled "Dumping on Darwin", Michael D. Lemonick, states that nearly half of all adults in the United States reject the Darwinian theory of evolution, and favor the story of creation presented in the Old Testament book of Genesis. This poses an important question. Is half the population opposing the theory because they truly disagree with it, or because they are not well informed? Some adults cannot give a detailed description as to what the Darwinian Theory entails. For this reason, I believe students should learn the facts of evolution if for no other reason than to be informed on the scientific aspect, since that’s what we’re in school to learn.

I do not think Evolution should be taught as a fact, but rather for exactly what it is, a theory. It is important to realize that there are flaws in the theory, gaps that cannot be filled in, and occurrences that cannot be fully explained. For example, Michael Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University argues that many of the human organs are too complex to be a product of evolution. However, there is also a strong argument against this from the scientific community stating that there is sufficient evidence to throw out this claim. Many animals have very sophisticated organ systems and ours could very easily have evolved from this. There is no doubt that humans have evolved in smaller ways over the last century, so why couldn’t they evolve in this manner over thousands of years?

In 1995 the Alabama board of Education started requiring all biology text books in public schools to include an insert. It states, “the word ‘evolution’ may refer to many types of change”, and it goes on to say, “evolution also refers to
the unproven belief that random, undirected forces produce a world of living things."

I think this is a great point to include because it suggests that there is another theory out there, but no overtly religious statements are made. It sticks to the science and the facts and that is just what we need.