Evolution in schools (was Re: Evolution...)

[Stefan Jeglinski <jeglin@4PI.COM>]

> If we're teaching evolution in elementary school, are we telling the kids
> about the results of contemporary scientific "heresies" such as A-life
> interactions, game theory and Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, Tit-for-tat
> computer competitions, and the various concepts espoused by Lynn Margulis
> and others?  (See the above website for info.)  Perhaps if we did, the
> science/religion/evolution controversy would be far less heated.
>
> What is the solution to the evolution/creation/schools controversy?  I do
> not know.  We certainly should be teaching kids about evolution regardless
> of whether christian fundamentalists want to suppress this information.


Here is a thought that may surprise many, coming from me:


Evolution should not be a part of the standard curriculum in high
schools. And nonexistent in earlier grades.


I have watched my own son proceed through the public schools. I
myself am a product of public school. His experience is much
difference than mine was from the standpoint of violence and
everything else in schools today. Today, to get past the finer points
of high-school cell biology to such a complex subject as Evolution
seems unlikely to succeed. Hell, it generally didn't when -I- was in
high school, and I didn't have to worry much about getting seriously
injured while in attendance. And middle or elementary school? Very
few children of that age are comprehending anything on such a
subject, is my opinion. Come on now, realistically.

Likewise in physics; more often than not, the high school physics
teacher has no background in physics. In 1975, my high school physics
teacher, bless his heart, took freshman algebra-based physics at the
local U and was about 2 weeks ahead of us. I didn't learn much from
him, but he had guts. Little has changed in 24 years. In my son's
high school, last I checked (he is going to a so-called charter
school now), the physics teacher also had no physics background. And
a good friend of mine, with a masters in physics, was recently turned
down for 2 positions in our town to teach public school physics
because the candidates ahead of him (without -any- physics
backgrounds) had their certificates and he did not.

Please folks, this is not a diatribe about the education system. And
the last persons I would blame for this anyway are those teachers who
bravely try to do it. And I do not wish to malign the qualified
teachers of these high school subjects. It is simply some anecdotal
evidence for my assertion that there is not always a teacher than can
do justice to the subject s/he is teaching.

Back to biology, how many high school biology teachers could really
do justice to evolution anyway? It is a vast and complex (and
changing!) subject, and the curriculum often calls for so much
material to be covered ("standards" you see), I don't see how it can
be done much beyond the most elementary of notions. Not to mention
those who might teach that "we descended from apes" is still a
working paradigm, because a 10-year old textbook that still says so
is all they can afford, and they spend a lot of time with students'
personal troubles instead.

Add to this the number of high schoolers who still need remedial Math
and English (forget about science), and I just don't see it happening.

I say reserve Evolution for directed independent studies, AP classes,
or special projects. And high school only. The gloss-over it gets in
schools is part of the problem that scientists have in defending
science. If it looks flimsy it may be because it is presented that
way. Prepare the non-AP etc students so they can survive to study
biology etc in college and beyond if they choose. Let the AP students
get a better glimpse of something that they too can act upon in
college.

Am I nuts here? I freely admit that I am not a high school teacher.
Who on this list is a high school teacher? What think you? I want to
know if I am full of baloney.


Stefan Jeglinski