Not to choose

Creationism and Evolution should not be taught to school aged children, partially because of the religious connotations associated with creationism, but mostly because of the amount of faith that is required for both.
Creationism v. Evolution, just the mention of the argument makes some people see red. To understand the argument you need to first understand both sides, if not completely then at least on the basic level. Creationism is the belief that God created everything, and evolution is a scientific belief of how life began. There are two main subtypes of evolution that most everyone is aware of. Microevolution is explained by Charles Darwin as natural selection. (Charles, 2003) Macro evolution is large scale evolution.
Evolution is generally associated with Charles Darwin, when the reality is, Darwin's most famous book "The Origin of the Species" was not about macro evolution but about natural selection. Micro evolution does have scientific proof, if it were not for natural selection there would not be variation in animal breeds, plant types or insects. Darwin showed no proof of macro evolution in his book. Macroevolution has not been proven past the theory phase, due to the fact it takes such an extensive amount of time for it to occur and it has not been observed.
Although creationism is a primarily Judeo-Christian belief, creationism is not completely faith based; creation science strives to not only disprove the science behind, but to also build the scientific proof of creation. One of the biggest points made is that since no one was around 4.5 million years ago to observe the development of the strata then the earth is only 10,000 years old. This same argument can be reversed since there were no creationists around 10,000 years ago to witness creation. (Moore, 2003) Since it cannot be proven it is also still a theory.
There is a scientific and philosophical rule called Occam's razor, it states that if all things are equal, the answer requiring the fewest jumps in logic is normally correct. (Occam's Razor- Definition from the Merriam-Webster-Online Dictionary) But, what should be considered a jump in logic? For some the simple statement that God created everything requires no jump, yet for other's it requires a giant leap of faith. In contrast some see that life coming from primordial soup (Primordial soup-Definition from the Meriiam-Webster Online Dictionary) requires no jump in logic. Picking which theory requires the fewest jumps in logic, is not the place of the educational system. Both creationism and evolution are scientific theories; neither can be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. How can two conflicting theories be chosen from to teach school children?
Children are generally taught one belief system or the other depending on their parent's beliefs. By the time a child reaches school age he or she has already been indoctrinated by their parents' beliefs, and teaching a different belief could have detrimental effects on a child's comprehension of the subject matter. Whichever theory was chosen to be taught could cause undue stress in home life depending on which belief system the student's parents follow. If students have been taught one thing at home and then taught the other in the school setting it could be fuel for disruptive and unhelpful arguments in the classroom where there is neither time nor the resources to handle the argument successfully.
It is considered a breach of the "Separation of Church and State" (Separation Of Church And State) to teach anything religious in public schools. If it is taken into account that there are some people who practice science as their religion then scientific unproven theories should not be taught, just like creationism as a creation science and Judeo-Christian theory should not be taught. It is neither a publicly funded nor privately funded learning institution's responsibility to determine the basic beliefs of children left under their supervision.
    Neither evolution nor creationism should be taught to school aged children. The theories have no forbearance on learning of other scientific theory or fact. Whether the child believes that God created the universe or if the child believes that the universe was formed by a big bang, or any of the other countless theories of the beginning has no effect on whether or not the child can learn and understand the law of gravity or the law of inertia. Why cause so much unneeded strife?

Works Cited

Charles, D. (2003). The Origin of the Species. New York: Signet Classics.

Hutson, J. (1998, June). A Wall of Seperation. Retrieved 01 24, 2010, from Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danbury.html

Moore, J. A. (2003). From Genesis to Genetics: The Case of Evolution and Creationism. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Occam's Razor- Definition from the Merriam-Webster-Online Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved 1 24, 2010, from Dictionary and Thesaurus-Merriam-Webster Online: http://www.meriiam-webster.com/dictionary/Occam%27s%20Razor

Primordial soup-Definition from the Meriiam-Webster Online Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved 01 24, 2010, from Dictonary adn Thesaurus- Merriam-Webster Online: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Primordial%soup

Separation Of Church And State. (n.d.). Retrieved 1 24, 2010, from History - AllAboutHistory.org: http://www.allabouthistory.org/separation-of-church-and-state.htm