RE: Kansas Closing arguments

There is no doubt that evolutionary theory, whichever way is taught, will always give rise to issues on which many people will differ. Why is it that we never hear "that physics is and can be taught in a religiously neutral manner?" We do not hear such things even when discussing the Big Bang theory of the creation of the physical universe. What if a student asks the cosmologist, what was there before the Bang? Are we to avoid such types of questions? Therefore, those issue to which many students and parents are sensitive to ought to be addressed honestly in the classroom. What is the fear of biologists? A few words regarding the philosophy behind evolutionary theory at the beginning of the course ought not to be treated as discussing religion but rather clarifying the assumptions being made. Invariably, evolutionary theory will always give rise to the question of how life came about and how is the present related to the past. These are not only scientific questions but a!
lso historical questions to which possible answers are based on all sorts of assumptions. If there is a controversy, teach it!

 
Moorad

________________________________

From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu on behalf of Keith Miller
Sent: Tue 5/17/2005 5:07 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: Kansas Closing arguments

Ted:

> From where I sit as an outsider to professional science but an insider
> to
> the larger story of science in cultural contexts, and an insider to the
> study of science as a form of reasoning and as a human activity, here
> is my
> main concern about what is happening in Kansas and in other states.
>
> The politics of this obscures the search for truth. This cuts both
> ways,
> IMO, that is, neither "side" is willing to acknowledge actually valid
> points
> made by the "other guys." Let me offer just two specific examples.

I agree that politicizing the issue has been highly destructive. The
current polarizing and divisive national politics is touching a lot
more than just the evolution/creation issue. Intelligent discussion of
almost any issue is becoming increasingly difficult.

Unfortunately, the ID group has been a major factor in politicizing the
creation/evolution issue. The major thrust of their arguments in the
Kansas hearings was to essentially ignore the middle ground which is
that evolutionary science is and can be taught in a religiously neutral
manner. By insisting that evolution is based on a fundamentally
atheistic worldview - they perpetuate the polarizing and dichotomizing
thinking which is at the root of the problem. This was the fundamental
issue during the hearings -- the science was entirely secondary.

The other important thing to keep in mind is that the issue in Kansas
is the state science standards. It is about which important science
concepts should be tested in the state's standardized tests. In other
words, what basic scientific understanding should we expect all
students to have at different grade levels and upon graduation? For
this reason, areas of scientific research that are currently in the
frontiers of research, or for which no significant scientific consensus
exists, are not part of the standards. That is why there is no mention
of Origin of Life research in the standards. Some of the ID critiques
of the standards seem to completely miss what their pedagogical purpose
is.

Keith
Received on Tue May 17 18:41:52 2005