Saturday, January 15, 2005
Evolution
[Edit: Click on the title for a link to the story to which I am referring]
Okay, reading this story, I'm not entirely sure what the deal is. The reporter must be leaving out some kind of crucial information, because the judge's final decision on this case seems, at face value, a little silly. "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered." This introduction gives believers just as much reason to doubt it as opposers reason to consider it. It challenges students to study and not just accept it or deny it unquestioningly. Perhaps we should put introductions like this in history books as well. We know that people who write history like to write it in such a way that favors their opinions. (Side note: The ship that the HMS Suprise is pursuing in "Master and Commander" in the movie is french, but in the book it was american. Wouldn't want american audiences getting mad because some one portrayed them as the bad guys!). So, back to evolution. Evolution is a theory. It is a good theory. But Creationists are not the only people who find it somewhat faulty. Evolution is the gathering of material to surmise the best scientific reasoning behind how the earth, as we know it, came to be so, and how we as a race, as a species, came to be as we are. I would hazard that it is largely in response to the unfaltering belief in Creationism, but that's just a theory. I don't mean to say that a science book should be teaching theories that are not considered scientific, but even the theory of evolution has changed over the past 50 years in some details. Whose rights are violated by asking students to consider material, ANY material, with a critical eye? Isn't that what EDUCATION and even the dadgum SCIENTIFIC METHOD are all about? Questioning what is held as truth?
The real problem that scares me is that we citizens of the US keep bringing certain cases before federal courts. I don't mean to say it scares me that we are using the court system. That's a good thing; they are there for that very reason. What I mean is that...not every issue is a federal issue. Some of them are state issues. For example: education. I understand that people are crying out for national standards and especially because as kids begin to apply to colleges, they may have a perfect GPA from the best education their state had to offer and it may end up being sub-par to that of other states. However, there are no U.S. federal schools. We have only State public schools and of course private schools. Why then, do issues concerning education move to a federal level? Why do we want a bigger government? Didn't any of you read Fahrenheit 451 or 1984? It's amazing when you look back at the way our country was founded, as a group of states. I think we no longer understand what the word "state" means. Every country in the world, besides the U.S. is ONE state. We are 50 individual states, each with it's own voice. The federal branch of our government was meant to be used for things such as foreign policy, not running our lives. Our government was set up in the constitution to be small government, unlike the monarchies of the European nations from which the original settlers came. and 200 years later, we have come full circle. So remember, folks, Vote Adam for Small Government!
Okay, reading this story, I'm not entirely sure what the deal is. The reporter must be leaving out some kind of crucial information, because the judge's final decision on this case seems, at face value, a little silly. "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered." This introduction gives believers just as much reason to doubt it as opposers reason to consider it. It challenges students to study and not just accept it or deny it unquestioningly. Perhaps we should put introductions like this in history books as well. We know that people who write history like to write it in such a way that favors their opinions. (Side note: The ship that the HMS Suprise is pursuing in "Master and Commander" in the movie is french, but in the book it was american. Wouldn't want american audiences getting mad because some one portrayed them as the bad guys!). So, back to evolution. Evolution is a theory. It is a good theory. But Creationists are not the only people who find it somewhat faulty. Evolution is the gathering of material to surmise the best scientific reasoning behind how the earth, as we know it, came to be so, and how we as a race, as a species, came to be as we are. I would hazard that it is largely in response to the unfaltering belief in Creationism, but that's just a theory. I don't mean to say that a science book should be teaching theories that are not considered scientific, but even the theory of evolution has changed over the past 50 years in some details. Whose rights are violated by asking students to consider material, ANY material, with a critical eye? Isn't that what EDUCATION and even the dadgum SCIENTIFIC METHOD are all about? Questioning what is held as truth?
The real problem that scares me is that we citizens of the US keep bringing certain cases before federal courts. I don't mean to say it scares me that we are using the court system. That's a good thing; they are there for that very reason. What I mean is that...not every issue is a federal issue. Some of them are state issues. For example: education. I understand that people are crying out for national standards and especially because as kids begin to apply to colleges, they may have a perfect GPA from the best education their state had to offer and it may end up being sub-par to that of other states. However, there are no U.S. federal schools. We have only State public schools and of course private schools. Why then, do issues concerning education move to a federal level? Why do we want a bigger government? Didn't any of you read Fahrenheit 451 or 1984? It's amazing when you look back at the way our country was founded, as a group of states. I think we no longer understand what the word "state" means. Every country in the world, besides the U.S. is ONE state. We are 50 individual states, each with it's own voice. The federal branch of our government was meant to be used for things such as foreign policy, not running our lives. Our government was set up in the constitution to be small government, unlike the monarchies of the European nations from which the original settlers came. and 200 years later, we have come full circle. So remember, folks, Vote Adam for Small Government!
# posted by Adam @ 7:36 AM 
