Choosing sides in the Creationism v. Evolution argument is essential in the classroom setting. Creationism is a faith-based belief that God created everything, while Evolution is a Science based belief of how life started. Evolution can be separated into several subtypes, two of which being, microevolution and macroevolution. Microevolution is explained in "The Origin of the Species", as natural selection. Macroevolution is defined as large-scale evolution outside the normal realm of microevolution.
Teaching Creationism and Evolution in a classroom setting has the ability to lead to confusion in young students, who are not completely certain as to where they stand in the Creationism v. Evolution argument. By integrating the two theories, in the classroom, it is forcing the blatant contradictions of the two arguments into the light. This has the ability to lead into classroom debates, which could interfere with normal classroom activities. The following discourse, depending on the age of the students, has the chance to stunt a students' understanding of biology on the basic level. By choosing to teach either Creationism or Evolution, the risk of confusion is greatly diminished.
Occam's razor is a scientific and philosophical rule that states if all things are equal, the answer requiring the fewest jumps in logic is normally correct. When dealing with teaching Evolution and Creationism together the theories are so opposite of each other and both require several leaps in logic, in order to get to the beginning. If, it is accepted that Evolution and Creationism are both theories about the beginning of life, then it is reasonable to accept one of them to be correct. The question needs to be asked, "What should be considered a jump in logic?" For some individuals the simple answer to the beginning of life is "God created all of this" is logical and requires no jump, for others, the belief that life came from the primordial soup is logical. These are vastly different examples and one of them would have to require a jump in logic, both theories simply cannot be correct.
As previously stated; Creationism is a faith based theory, largely upheld by the Judeo-Christian Church. By solely teaching Creationism in the classroom, the State is placing itself in a precarious situation that has the propensity to breach the Separation of Church and State. This argument could also be placed on Evolution, seeing, as there are individuals who practice Science as their religion. Teaching any religious theory as fact, especially to impressionable students, is irresponsible. Learning Institutions, publicly funded or privately funded, should openly choose a side of the Creationism v. Evolution argument in order to aide parents in make an educated decision on what they should tell their children or which learning venue their children should attend. In order to protect themselves from breaching the Wall of Separation, teachers and Learning Institutions should be given an option to teach neither Evolution nor Creationism, since both are merely theories.
When it comes to discussing Creationism and Evolution there is a gray area, in general, individuals consider their beliefs on the beginning of life to be fact, while the reality is their beliefs are theories inside theories. It is possible, that since Creationism and Evolution are both theories that it should not be required to be taught in the classroom at all, much less together. Having a working knowledge of Evolution as the basis of life has nothing to do with understanding biology as a whole, if biology was based entirely on Evolution and its theories then biology would therefore be a theory. If this argument were based on Creationism as the basis of life and so forth, biology would still be merely a theory. Since it has been established that there is life, therefore the study of life then it can be deduced that biology is not a theory. In order to bypass all of the turmoil associated with only teaching one, the other or both, it is suggested to teach neither, establish biology from the cellular level, not the beginning of life.
Works Cited
Darwin, Charles. The Origin Of Species. New York: Signet Classics, 2003.
HUTSON, JAMES. "'A Wall of Separation' (June 1998) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin." Library of Congress Home. 29 Apr. 2009 <http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danbury.html>.
"Occam's Razor - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. 29 Apr. 2009 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Occam%27s%20Razor>.
"Primordial soup - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. 29 Apr. 2009 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Primordial%20soup>.
Grade 40/50
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