Should evolution be taught in high school?

Microbiologist Carl Woese is well known as an iconoclast. At 79 years of age, Woese is still shaking things up. Most recently, he stated in an interview with Wired that...

"My feeling is that evolution shouldn't be taught at the lower grades. You don't teach quantum mechanics in the grade schools. One has to be quite educated to work with these concepts; what they pass on as evolution in high schools is nothing but repetitious tripe that teachers don't understand."

[Cash]

It's a decent point except the basics of teaching evolution should be no different than the basics of physics. We can teach force, we can teach genetics.

Evolution is complex, as is high end physics, but it doesn't require a PhD to learn the foundations of either.

[Liam R]

It's evolution. It's not like it is rocket science...

[curtymack]

The hallmark of a good teacher is an ability to breakdown a subject to the level of the students ability to comprehend and at the same time making the subject interesting. Surely there are aspects of evolution and genetics amenable to the high school grade level. This guy just sounds like he is a lousy teacher more suited to doing research rather than teaching students. I think it should also be emphasized that genetics and evolution are theorectical as is all scientific knowledge. There are no absolutes in science as we will contnually be asking what, when, where, why, how and surmising new theories to answer such queries.

[The_Enlightener]

I think you should be exposed to all theories of how we got here into existence. They are theories and therefore one should be able to make up their own minds how they want to believe.

[Iron Ranger]

Absolutely NO "evolution" should be taught in schools.

The so-called theories of evolution have been shown to be false. Darwin made up a lot of "facts." He "filled in" when he had no proof.

God made us.

Don't be odd.
Get with God!

[dolphin girl]

Iron Ranger, I believe God created evolution after He created the world! Genesis is the work of MEN who didn't understand a lot of things.

[liketolearnmore]

Iron Ranger wrote:

Absolutely NO "evolution" should be taught in schools.
The so-called theories of evolution have been shown to be false. Darwin made up a lot of "facts." He "filled in" when he had no proof.
God made us.
Don't be odd.
Get with God!

I don't even want to get into this one except for the fact that Church Based Religion is nothing more than a Big Business that controls the ignorant masses of the world. Why haven't all the Gospels been ordained in the Bible??? Rmember these and all Gospels were written by men and most hundreds of years after the facts.

[Tddoff]

Only if it is explained that evolution is nothing more than one theory with very little evidence and that intelligent design also should be taught as another possibility. Otherwise if not, evolution should be removed from the schools.

[Matt from Akron]

dolphin girl wrote:

Iron Ranger, I believe God created evolution after He created the world! Genesis is the work of MEN who didn't understand a lot of things.

I agree.

[jim]

Iron Ranger wrote:

Absolutely NO "evolution" should be taught in schools.
The so-called theories of evolution have been shown to be false. Darwin made up a lot of "facts." He "filled in" when he had no proof.
God made us.
Don't be odd.
Get with God!

Darwin later confessed on his death bed
he was wrong.
When they have nothing to believe they
will follow anything!

[RICK]

just keep telling them it was all done in 6 days,

yeah.....sure

[lightside]

Liam R wrote:

It's evolution. It's not like it is rocket science...

Correct...The problem with evolution is it sounds right with all this psycho babble but it lacks any proof and Darwin knew it. It's just a make believe Point.. We have million of creatures on earth that supposedly evolved from a single cell. Well common sense will tell you that there should be thousands if not millions of creatures in the middle of the process (mutants) right now but there is not one! There should be 2 celled organisms and 4 cells etc... but there is not. You have one celled organisms and you have a 30,000 cell jellyfish with nothing in between. 30,000 missing links right off the foundation. There are bees and flowers that have to be here at the same time or neither one would exist. Evolution does not explain any of this. There is a large percentage of the microbiologist that believes in creative design because all the parts have to be there or it doesn’t work. I realize one thing being around teachers and professors. They can memorize book, quotes, phrases and psycho babble from other professors but they lack common sense. Most can't even jump their car when it has a dead battery. Think about it.

[Iron Ranger]

RICK wrote:

just keep telling them it was all done in 6 days,
yeah.....sure

You have to use your RIGHT BRAIN to get it. The six days is not a LITERAL, LEFT pea-brained six days.

Thus "six days' is a metaphor. God meant more like six centuries or six eons. Also those oldtimers who wrote the bible did NOT have same concept of six days that we have now.

So open up your mind.

Ask your teacher, mother or other smart person, if you still don't get it.

[just had lunch]

Tddoff wrote:

Only if it is explained that evolution is nothing more than one theory with very little evidence and that intelligent design also should be taught as another possibility. Otherwise if not, evolution should be removed from the schools.

a theory with very little evidence????
apparently you don't read much.
and the "evidence" for ANYTHING else is...?
a 2600 year old book written by people who did not understand something as basic as "where the sun goes at night" that has been translated from the original numerous times for a variety of political reasons...
now THERE'S some evidence!

[Iron Ranger]

Seek and yee shall find.
Ask and it shall be given to you.

[The Rock]

If not now its going to be later,so it does'nt matter .The problem with these religious fools is
that if you are not lying it is not accepted .
Evolution is fact and sooner or later you will have to swallow it.It is dificult for teachers to teach someting that they were not thought.

[sailor310]

Really? We are getting in to this again? I thought it was all decided, on the "Florida schools decide to teach Evolution" thread!

[TerryL]

lightside wrote:

<quoted text>
Correct...The problem with evolution is it sounds right with all this psycho babble but it lacks any proof and Darwin knew it. It's just a make believe Point.. We have million of creatures on earth that supposedly evolved from a single cell. Well common sense will tell you that there should be thousands if not millions of creatures in the middle of the process (mutants) right now but there is not one! There should be 2 celled organisms and 4 cells etc... but there is not. You have one celled organisms and you have a 30,000 cell jellyfish with nothing in between. 30,000 missing links right off the foundation. There are bees and flowers that have to be here at the same time or neither one would exist. Evolution does not explain any of this. There is a large percentage of the microbiologist that believes in creative design because all the parts have to be there or it doesn’t work. I realize one thing being around teachers and professors. They can memorize book, quotes, phrases and psycho babble from other professors but they lack common sense. Most can't even jump their car when it has a dead battery. Think about it.

Congratulations! You are the new leader in the "Most ignorant post of the month" contest. By the sound of your this "entry", you'll likely be posting even more evidence of your ignorance in the future. I can hardly wait.

[z3dsdead]

Amazing! People just continue to buy into the crap the gop and conservatives are useing to dumb down the kids these days. But it's even more astounding that a grown up human in 2008 in America can still be so incredibly ignorant that they'd buy the intelligent design garbage. Evolution may not account for 100% of the human process, but 0% can be proven by the theories that Iron Ranger, Dolphin girl and sadly, many others presume to be facts based on nothing substatiated beyond ignorant BELIEFs indoctrinated into them buy thievess who made them pay cash to be lied to week after week.
Religion is a money making business. Nothing else. Fear based mind control for the massess who believe that they are too stupid to think for themselves and are happily content to proclaim their ignorance.

[MEAN EUGENE]

How do the "intelligent design" conservative,right wing nuts explain dinosaur bones . Im looking for the punch line.