...April 24th, 2014 Why Creationism Should be Taught in Schools Evolution is believed to have been scientifically proven, but really it’s not. It is only a theory. If Evolution is only a theory, why is it the only theory being taught in our schools today? Creationism is another theory about how the world was created. It is just as valid as an idea as evolution, so why is only one theory being taught in our classrooms? Creationism should be taught alongside Evolution because students should be able to think on their own and decide what theory to believe. Both theories cannot be proven, so why not teach different perspectives? Evolution is not a fact, just theory and hypothesis. It is a belief. Some may even say, a faith. It might seem that people claim that creationism is religious doctrine, and it is, but evolution is just as religious as creationism. Both cannot be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Both take faith to believe them to be true. So creationism is just as valid as Evolution. Creationism came from religious views, but not everyone believes in the same religions. Evolution is a worldwide concept that many people have come to believe but they may not been exposed to these religions. “Dr. Bergman then went on to add, ‘If schools are to be a place where students can debate important questions, it would seem that eliminating religious questions would shelter students from an important area of debate which is crucial for living a well-rounded life.’” (Edwords...
Words: 1937 - Pages: 8
...Teaching Creation and Evolution in Schools Why are we here? Many people ask that question at some point in their life. The answers are different no matter who ask. Some people believe a higher power created the universe and our purpose here is to serve that higher power. Others say we exist because of the Big Bang and our purpose for living is to survive. The first theory for this is known as creationism. The other is evolution and most schools have encouraged this. Why is one not right and the other false? Is there no balance between these two issues? The lack of evidence makes creationism hard to believe, and many holes in the evolution link makes that hard to believe. Theories of human evolution cause disagreements. Each theory has its own evidence to prove that its right, but lack of enough evidence to prove the others errors. Most of the theories that try to explain the human existence are labeled as creation theory, naturalistic evolution theory and theistic evolution theory. Naturalistic evolution theory states that evolution is a force and not controlled by a god, goddess or some other type of deity. Theistic evolution is a combination of both creation and naturalistic theories. To understand the struggle between creationism and evolution you must first understand creationism. Creationism is the theory that all life was created by God. In the book of Genesis you will find the story when God formed man from the dust of the ground. God also created...
Words: 1135 - Pages: 5
...Evolution in our Public Schools Student Name PHI 103: Informal Logic Instructor: Date Evolution in our Public Schools I. Introduction A. Thesis Statement One of the major concerns in the scientific studies of biology today is about evolution being taught in our public schools. This has been an ongoing concern for the religious sects, teachers, school board members, students, parents, and state officials. It has been the talk of the courts since the Darwin Theory came along. Many issues have risen over the years since evolution was introduced to the world and into the school system. The questions of whether mankind evolved from a monkey or the way of creationism, that man was created by God as stated in the book of Genesis (Bible). Other issues that came up were with the teachers themselves and having to teach evolution in their biology classes, when not fully understanding evolution itself. In this essay we will discuss the arguments of evolution versus creationism that is being taught in our public schools and whether it is acceptable to teach evolution to our school children. II. Body paragraph # 1 – Topic Sentence # 1 The disputes of evolution started back in the late 19th century, some years after Charles Darwin came to the conclusion of linking human ancestry to lower animals by his evolution theory. This evolution of reasoning caused a stir in the public schools when it was put into the biology text books and required to be taught to the students...
Words: 1246 - Pages: 5
...There’s No Room: A look at public schools’ design for science and evolution Nicole McCormick PHI103: Informal Logic (GSK1216H) Instructor Micheal Pelt May 21, 2012 The 1987 Supreme Court ruling on the case of Edward v Aguillard, struck down a Louisiana Law requiring “balanced treatment” between “creation science” and evolution. The Supreme Court found “creation science” to be unconstitutional, a statute that forbade teaching evolution unless “creation science” was also taught. Edward v Aguillard made it clear you cannot teach creation science alongside evolution (Brown, Feb2012). This argument of if evolution should be taught in public schools has waged on for decades, and as long as some continue to believe in intelligent design while others in evolution, it is a battle that will no doubt continue on, with unnatural selections for some. Intelligent design is primarily a religious belief and not a scientific tenet, which forms the basis for why it should not be taught in public school science courses. This essay will discuss how evolution in public school science classrooms serves best with the national science curriculum, and how theories of creationism and intelligent design (ID), try as they may, have no place in public science classrooms. Research will begin with data that includes the said appropriateness of evolution, and how the study of evolution in school is in line with the teachings of biological science. Next, what will be considered are the creationist...
Words: 2088 - Pages: 9
...Curriculum in schools. A survey of high school science teachers was conducted to see if they taught creationism or evolution in their classroom. 17% of the teachers stated that they steer clear of this topic in general, where 60 % of the teachers allotted 1-5 hours for the topic. Many of these teachers stated that were advocates of creationism but limited the time they spent on this topic in fear of controversy and backlash form parents and staff. A Penn State report stated that American kids are lagging in the knowledge of evolution and creationism because teachers are unwilling or unprepared. Since this is such a big debate of whether creationism or evolution should be taught in school many teachers are opting to do the bare minimum to satisfy district standards. The current curriculum in many school districts in the United States allows for the discussion of both creationism and evolution. This has seemed to be the standard across the board. Since school districts do not want to push creationism as the main idea of human creation as it promotes or endorses a religion, but many parents are objecting to exclusive teachings of evolution on schools. The National Academic Council and National Academy of Science recommend that high school science teachers touch on evolution as a link between biology topics. In 2013 they released a report A Framework for K-12 Science Education. In the report they stated that Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every fact of...
Words: 382 - Pages: 2
...topics to most is how life on Earth was created. Some people believe completely in origination from the Bible. Others believe in evolution. To go further in depth, Charles Darwin made his own theory that involves natural selection, also known as Darwinism. This is a very controversial topic, especially when it comes to what is taught in schools. People get very heated when it comes to this. Evolution is defined as the change in inherited characteristics of populations to become successful. Scientists use this as an explanation for how humans and all other species were created. It all originated from the proposal that one type of animal could descend from another type of animal. Evolution is skimmed over in schools, but is never really taught in depth, at least in my case. I can tell someone the basics of evolution, but that’s as far I can cover. According to Darwin, it is important for natural variation to take place. This allows a species to change, improve, and adjust to the ever changing climate. Without variation, all species would be like clones, never adapting and soon would die. There have to be certain traits that make another type of the same species better than the other. The species with the bad traits will get killed off and the one with the good traits will get to pass on its genes. Creationism is basically the mixture of evolution and religion. Creationists believe that everything scientists find to prove religion wrong, is just what they’re supernatural being...
Words: 465 - Pages: 2
...such, should not be taught in our public schools. Introduction The town of Dover, PA looks like any other small towns in central Pennsylvania, but in October 2004 when the local school board proposed a slight alteration to the high school biology curriculum a fault line erupted between those who think of intelligent design as science and something that should be taught alongside evolution, and those who think of it as religion disguised as science. As a science teacher myself, I was very interested in this subject, and how school districts nationwide are pushing initiatives recently to put intelligent design in their biology classes. These school districts are struggling with the dilemma of whether or not to teach creationism as an alternative view to evolution theory. If, as many scientific creationists believe, God's message is important in defining the content, aims, and conditions of educational practice, then creationism does belong in the classroom. However, those who propose that creationism is not science, and that "creation science" is a misnomer, are opposed to the intervention of religion into the public educational program; after all, public educational programs should be separate from concerns of the church. The Scientific Argument against Intelligent Design “Evolution has...
Words: 1684 - Pages: 7
...1 Religion in Schools – Intelligent Design vs. Theory Stephanie C. Hansen Western International University April, 2006 Intelligent Design should be taught in schools, not only viewed as a religious theory. The debate continues on what roles the school should take on controversies regarding Theory of Evolution vs. Intelligent Design. Opponents insist that this is a “veiled way” of getting religion into the classroom, and that it should not be allowed. One of the main reasons to have Freedom of Speech is so “Truth” can emerge from vigorous debate on all sides of every important issue. Why then should we Americans ever want to suppress the free discussion of important issues in our public schools? (William McGinnis, 2006) Opponents would insist that Intelligent Design has no part in science. On the contrary, the more Intelligent Design is argued, the more scientific it proves to be. In the book Darwin’s Black Box (Behe) the author contends that “Darwin’s response is no longer adequate because of scientific advances that have occurred since Darwin’s death”. Thus, the Theory of Evolution deserves to be revisited. It wasn’t until after his (Darwin’s) death those life forms could be inspected on a molecular level. Therefore, it would also be “scientific” to re-evaluate the Intelligent Design concept on a scientific level since it has been determined “scientifically” that “even in their most basic forms, various organisms are so complex that they...
Words: 1695 - Pages: 7
...County school district and the topic that I will be discussing in today’s speech is the concern of thought of being intelligent design into the school system. The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the idea of intelligent design, which asserts that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not a possibly undirected process such as natural selection. Its chief activities are a campaign to promote public awareness of this concept, the lobbying of policymakers to include its teaching in high school science classes, and legal action, either to defend such teaching or to remove barriers otherwise preventing it. The movement arose out of the previous Christian fundamentalist and evangelistic creation science movement in the United States, and is driven by a small group of proponents. The overall goal of the intelligent design movement is to overthrow materialism and atheism. Its proponents believe that society has suffered devastating cultural consequences from adopting materialism and that science is the cause of the decay into materialism because it seeks only natural explanations, and is therefore atheistic. Many believe that the theory of evolution implies that humans have no spiritual nature, no moral purpose, and no intrinsic meaning. They seek to defeat the materialist world view represented by the theory of evolution in favor...
Words: 1121 - Pages: 5
...founded on Christian principles. Just generations ago Biblical ideas were being taught in schools. Although we are known as a Christian country, religious ideas in public places are frowned upon or replaced. Now, scientific theories- evolution and the big bang- are being taught as fact to students across the nation. This is a growing problem because evolution is not a fact, only a weak theory based on misinterpreted evidence. There are two types of evolution being taught. One type, also known as natural selection or species adaptation, is when specific changes occur in one species. According to Roger Patterson, author of Evolution Exposed, natural selection is how a species changes, or evolves, in short periods of time. For example, one breed of dog evolved slightly to create the many different breeds of dogs we have now. This makes sense. Why? All dogs are similar to each other. You could say the same for birds, fish, cats, or any other animal. However, the theory of evolution says every living thing on the earth- plants, humans, animals and microscopic organisms- originated from only one organism. This is unrealistic. Natural selection can be tested and observed. On the other hand, the theory of evolution should not be taught as logical, evident factual information because it has not been scientifically proven as most of the non-Christian scientific world would tell you. Along with evolution, a theory for the origin of life, we have the Big Bang Theory, a theory for the...
Words: 671 - Pages: 3
...Can Evolutionism and Creationism Co-exist? Is the teaching of evolution really corrupting the minds of children? Can you really talk about the two theories without cutting off the others head? These are questions that come to mind when thinking about the topic at hand. Evolutionism and creationism can be taught together in classes without any controversy because evolutionism can be tied into creationism in many ways. Almost everyone wonders if the world was really made and how it was made. Students everywhere also ask, “How did the human originate?” This is a huge controversy that has been fought for many years. Although there are many ideas, people mainly argue over two of them. The first theory is that people was created by God during his creation of the world; this is the idea of creationism. It is backed up by many religious people and religion itself. There is much turmoil on the broad topic of creationism and its place in American society. The big controversy of creationism versus evolutionism is a very large topic, something that has been made increasingly evident by the numerous books printed on the subject. Most evolutionist and creationist spend their time attempting to prove the other’s theory wrong; in one way or another, prove that theirs is the correct answer to the origins of life as we know it. I have no intent of diving into that raging battle, but would rather take a very different approach. Being raised in a religious household, I naturally have...
Words: 3178 - Pages: 13
...Creationism VS. Evolution “Why evolution should be taught in public schools” by Laura H. Kahn discusses how evolution being taught in the public school system is essential to our future in science and medicine. Kahn discusses how the theory of evolution has come to be over the many years of research and experimentation by many famous scientists, she also talks about the uphill battle it has been for the theory of evolution to be taught in the public school system because “certain segments of society insist that religious doctrine, masquerading as science, be taught instead. Laura presents her audience with the facts that in the nineteenth century theory of spontaneous generation, the theory that proposed that life could emerge from nonliving material, was the main theory of evolution back then. How ever a French chemist, Louis Pasteur, would try to disprove the theory through his discovery that yeasts were responsible for making wine palatable and bacteria was responsible for turning wine bad. He also discovered through the use of silkworms that microbes caused their illness and death. She states that Pasteur saw the connection between microbes, fermentation, putrefaction, and disease. She claims that his biggest challenge however was to try to convince the scientific community to accept is idea. She backs up her statement with bringing to our attention that at the same time Pasteur was pushing his theory a scientist by the name of Felix-Archimede claimed he had successfully...
Words: 852 - Pages: 4
...Homeschooling is Not Effective Many families in the United States have decided to homeschool their children rather than send them to their local public school. They fear that public schools will have a negative effect on their children’s education due to alcohol, drugs and the lack of focus. However, how does homeschooling affect children? Homeschooling is not an effective option because homeschooled children are isolated and poorly socialized, not educated properly, and are at high risk for child abuse. There is strong evidence to support that homeschooled students are isolated and are poorly socialized. Margaret Boyce (2010) who offers her own opinions about homeschooling in the Holland Sentinel, a Michigan newspaper, says that parents of homeschooled children speak very highly of the imaginations developed by their “lonely child”. They are always around adults, and they have little opportunity to develop friendships with children their own age. Homeschooled children never have the chance to have spirit for their school. There is more to school than learning; there is summer break and weekends. Michael Haverluck (2010), who is a writer and reporter for the Christian Broadcasting Network, says that ninety-two percent of public school superintendents believe homeschooled children are emotionally unstable, and deprived of proper social skills. Homeschooled students are poorly socialized, and need to interact with people of their own age. In addition, homeschooled children...
Words: 748 - Pages: 3
...Identifying Data Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about Epperson vs. Arkansas court case dealing with the religious schooling taught in public schools. Central Idea: The Supreme Court case between Epperson and Arkansas deals with the problem of whether it’s ok or not to teach the Evolution theory to children in the state of Arkansas. Type of Speech: Supreme Court Organizational Pattern: Event Introduction: Attention Getter: How many people were taught the Theory of Evolution in a high school class? Thesis: In this speech I will present the facts of the court, the religious views of Evolution, both sides of this argument, including Susan Epperson’s side and Arkansas State’s side, and the judicial decision. Preview Statement: In this speech I will present the facts of the court, with both sides of the argument, and the judicial decision. (Trans: I will begin today by presenting how the theory of evolution contradicts religion). Body: I. In the case of Epperson vs. Arkansas, the driving force behind the ban of the theory of evolution were moral views. A. The population of Arkansas in the 1960’s was made up of rural traditional families with conservative views. 1. The conservative views were mainly affiliate with religious beliefs. 2. The driving force behind the outlaw of the teaching of evolution was the fact that evolution, “contradicts a literal interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis.” 3. In the first chapter of genesis, the bible explains...
Words: 1040 - Pages: 5
...The Theory of Evolution “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” (Charles Darwin). One of the more controversial pieces ever written was Darwin’s Natural Selection. The controversy is evolution vs. creation. Religion says earth and mankind, and life in general was created by god (as told in the creation story) with a design and purpose. Darwin says life all descends from a common ancestor with modifications over time in an undirected manor. It is not outside the realm of possibility that Darwin may be right considering he was trained as a minister and allowed himself to step outside the general consensus. Much like he did, we may need to accept that there may be some truth to the work he has done over his life I feel that Darwin's work was impactful because it shows us that there are alternative reasoning’s behind how we got here. I agree with Darwin's work and his theory of evolution because it is actually supported by evidence. I don't know about you but I've never been religious. I also think that his theory should be taught because religion has no place in public classrooms. Let parents teach religion, schools teach science, and allow the child to decide what to believe. I believe that evolution is real because it explains why there are so many different types of certain species. Natural selection is the gradual process by which biological traits become either more or less common in a population...
Words: 1580 - Pages: 7
