Teaching evolution not the problem

November 13, 2005

Spectrum\Bill Siedler

So, what's the matter with the Mat-Su Valley? In his 2004 book, &#8220What's the Matter with Kansas?” humorist and social commentator Thomas Frank explores the 1999 decision (Frank describes it as a &#8220barking idiocy”) of the Kansas Board of Education to delete references to macroevolution and the age of the earth from Kansas' science standards. It apparently did not matter to a majority of the board members that to biologists and biology teachers worldwide, that evolution is the bedrock upon which modern biology, and much of earth science rests.

According to Frank, what mattered to the Kansas board was that teaching evolution in public schools caused &#8220'Teen drug use, the rampant spread of sexually transmitted diseases, despair and suicide in teens, as well as youth violence.'” The 1999 decision was reversed, but on Nov. 8, the Kansas board voted 6-4 to redefine the term &#8220science” so as to accommodate supernatural explanations (&#8220God did it!”).

How did Kansas, or for that matter the Mat-Su Valley, come to where the teaching of evolution is attacked so publicly by people who choose to remain ignorant of how evolution makes sense of the natural world. Many have seen this coming from a long way off, but recent items in our Valley Frontiersman newspaper have made the issue impossible to ignore further.

First, there was a public discussion - in writing, and in cartoon form, courtesy of Chuck Legge - of the validity of a home-school science education, if the pupil gets his or her &#8220facts” from a conspicuously Christian fundamentalist (read: &#8220creationist”) text.

Next was Joel Davidson's well-intentioned opinion piece of Oct. 18, in which he made a number of uninformed and wrong-headed assertions. One was, &#8220Many scientists have serious questions about [evolution's] explanatory power.”

Scientists don't, of course. Virtually all of the world's creditable scientists fully embrace the concepts of evolution.

Another was, &#8220Whether some guiding force directs the countless mutations down through the ages, physical science will never know.” Indeed, any evolutionary scientist worth his or her NaCl will tell you that natural selection is that guiding force.

On Oct. 30, an article appeared (also by Davidson) subtitled &#8220Christian schools work to harmonize God, science.” It was an article in which principals and teachers in various Valley Christian schools proceeded to vilify evolutionary science in favor of what is best described as &#8220a science for creationist biblical literalists.” Some harmonizing.

If this weren't enough God/science harmony, on Nov. 1, Frontiersman readers heard from home-schooler David Russell, who dismissed evolution as &#8220someone's point of view,” as if it were a matter of personal taste, like fashion or food or whether dogs make better pets than cats.

Not to be outdone by the Valley's thrice-a-week paper, the Oct. 5 Anchorage Daily News reportage of last month's Valley school bond rejections featured a quote from none other than the fundamentalist Rev. Ron Hamman, who told the Daily News, ”And I'm against public schools because they're anti-Jesus Christ in what they teach.” If this is true, my 10th-grade daughter must've missed that lesson.

Davidson spent much ink accusing public school science teachers of anti-religious sentiments, or making a leap, in the classroom, from good hard material-world science to metaphysical pronouncements. These are occurrences I've never witnessed, and I'm betting Davidson hasn't either.

Better he should've asked the Christian school teachers, or their principals, exactly what, if any, qualifications they possess, in the way of degrees in a physical science. Do they need to be &#8220highly qualified,” as the federal No Child Left Behind Act requires public school teachers to be?

What credentials allow them to make such scientific assertions (from Davidson's article) as &#8220I think the scientific evidence points to a creator,” or &#8220It [evolution] doesn't even make sense! Of course God made this. My students look at me like , ‘Why would anyone believe in evolution?'”

Well, of course it's not going to make sense if you use the Bob Jones University Press &#8220science” text that flatly states that &#8220evolution is not true science because it contradicts biblical teaching.”

Interestingly, Lumen Christi High, the Catholic school in Anchorage, seems to be happy teaching the science of evolution as is. And without looking for ways to make it possible for the earth to be only 6,000 years old, or for humans to coexist with dinosaurs, or to wonder whether Adam and Eve had bellybuttons.

Let's hope that whatever's the matter with Kansas stays in Kansas, and that the Mat-Su School Board, and other school boards around the country, continue to allow our public-school science teachers to teach evolution, upsetting though it may be to some. America's scientific place in the world may depend on it.

Bill Siedler is a high school social studies teacher in the Mat-Su Borough School District.