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by Scoundral on June 10th, 2005

Scoundral

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Are public schools allowed to teach creationism?

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  • by Aminor on June 12th, 2005

    Aminor

    Allowed by whom? Are you under the impression that there's some overarching national authority that decides what public schools teach? There isn't. Public education is a state matter, and each state decides curricula, selects textbooks, sets criteria for teachers and tries to figure out how to improve schools. Below the statehouse there are local (county, city) school boards with greater or lesser decision-making power left them by the state, and even in a particular school, though everyone is supposed to be governed by policies announced upstream, there is usually some day-to-day flexibility, depending on how far into micro-managing the curriculum the authorities have gone. And the farther down you go toward the actual classroom, the more impact an affinity group of some sort with a fixed agenda can have.

    There is, however, the Constitution, and a lot of people are intent on maintaining freedom of religion or its absence and the separation of church and state, and they usually succeed in preventing overt religous teaching as explanations of physical phenomena. And Darwinian evolution is universally acknowledged as the dominant paradigm in communities that feel some loyalty to the scientific method, whether the people who feel it understand it or not. On the other hand, a lot of people have had some success pointing to various anomalies and unsolved problems in the details of evolution and insisting on getting competing notions presented in the classroom, sometimes under the rubric of fair play for competing ideas ("intelligent design"), sometimes as social history (it's a historical fact that a lot of people believe in creationism), or under other theories, including parents' rights to control what's taught to their kids.

    The overall fact is that we wanted freedom of speech and lots of competing opinions, and we've got them, like it or not. So if you're worried about mindless religion subverting the educational process, you'd better be paying attention to your local schools, because anything is possible. And if you're worried about Godless materialism eroding everything we hold dear, you'd better be paying attention to your local schools, because anything is possible.

    Two excellent articles: Peter J. Broyer, "Jesus in the Classroom," New Yorker, March 21, 2005 (what happened after a very popular teacher in a top-flight school system got religion); and H. Allen Orr, "Master Planned," New Yorker, May 30, 2005 (a look at the "intelligent design" movement, which has been trying to take on evolution without actually mentioning G*d). I believe both are available online.

    Comments

    • Fascinating subject, good answer.

      Lucas_

      by Lucas_ on June 12th, 2005

    • Really Good Answer!

      scymitar72

      by scymitar72 on June 12th, 2005

    • The answer is informative and balanced, and gives the reader the opportunity to explore the subject further.

      White Chocolate

      by White Chocolate on June 12th, 2005

    • We need to view both sides to make clear judgments, Great answer.

      Scottythinks

      by Scottythinks on June 14th, 2005

    • An A+ answer if there ever was one!!!

      Scottie

      by Scottie on June 22nd, 2005

    • Beautifully stated.

      AlvinSongster

      by AlvinSongster on June 23rd, 2005

    • Brilliant.

      bbumgarner

      by bbumgarner on June 23rd, 2005

    • Did you copy and Paste this, or is this actually in your own words? Please MAKE IT CLEAR where you're quoting someone!

      Rottweiler

      by Rottweiler on September 28th, 2006

    • Like
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