But surely you are not suggesting we should only teach what we can see and
test today? I live in an EXTREMELY conservative community which hosts many
parents who want entire history books thrown out. Why? Because we don't
really know if our historical analysis of the Mayas or the Egyptians is
true. We have merely taken bits and pieces of evidence, put them together
in a logical fashion, and devised a logical interpretation of what those
cultures must have been like. The history of life on earth is not
different. Evolution involves the accumulation of bits and pieces of
evidence which have been put together in a logical fashion to devise a
logical explanation for the history of life on earth.
Essentially, these ultra conservatives want the fields of archeology,
paleontology, geology, and anthropology thrown out. They see them as having
little value at all. They want their children taught ONLY what we can prove
at this very moment in time.
I shudder to think of what our schools would be like absent any historical
perspective on where we've been. In addition, I shudder to think what our
students will be like intellectually if their answer to every question is
simply, "God did it." Ask a creationist student to explain the theological
significance of DNA sequencing which definitely shows man's relatedness to
chimps and the answer is "I don't need to understand God's ways." Shall we
create a nation of non-thinkers?
Lucy