Kansas

[Michael D.]

[url="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-08-10T175646Z_01_N10498200_RTRIDST_0_USREPORT-LIFE-EVOLUTION-DC.XML"]http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....VOLUTION-DC.XML[/url]

That article is about the Kansas school board's decision on teaching evolution.
You can read it to find out what they decided, its short.

My question for the table is this.

Should "intelligent design" be taught in a science class?

We have debated the theory of evolution to death so there really isnt much more need for that but this is only slightly related.

"intelligent design" has been promoted by some as being a valid alternate theory that better explains how things could have happened.

The scientists deny this completely and cite the fact that its not a scientific theory at all because there is absolutly no way of testing it with experiments or observations.

Which brings us to the point. Should the debate be taught in a science class. Should a "theory" that is anything but scientific be taught along with one that is.

Personally, I say no.
If you are going to teach science keep it science. Personally I was taught about the ongoing debate on evolution in history class as part of a lecture about the scopes trial. I think if you are going to say that there is a debate it needs to be in the history class to distinguish it. Because among the purely scientific community, there really is no debate at all. Science class is not the place for it. I think, similarly to many others, that getting "intelligent design" into the science class is just a way of getting creationism, which is even farther away from real science, into public schools. Which i find somewhat laughable because i went to a catholic school and i was taught evolution... hmm.

[zwergel88]

I guess I don't really think that intelligent design should be taught, because it is still teaching religion in school. Last year we did a project on this for history class and we figured out that there is absolutely no way to teach evolution with or without mention of intelligent design that would not offend some religious group. Therefore, I think it is better to just teach fact and theories the way the scientific community thinks they should be, and students can still have there own beliefs about it. Learning about evolution doesn't mean that they are telling you that God didn't do it. They are merely teaching you the creative process, and it is up to you to have your own beliefs.

Anyway, they biggest problem that I have with the ongoing debate about teaching evolution is the fact that THEY DON'T EVEN TEACH YOU ABOUT IT ANYWAY. In biology class we had to do a project about various scientists and mentioned Darwin in it several times, however we never even talked about evolution. Perhaps it is different in other schools, but it doesn't seem to me that it is a big focus of the curriculim. They most we ever talked about it was in history class when we had a big debate about the Scopes trails. Everyone had very stong opinions and we nearly resorted to fist fighting.

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

I don't like it when I hear that ID cannot be tested in a labratory because evolution can't either. The study of origins is more like forensic investigation. I don't even agree with a lot of ID people. There's no one ID theory, just like there is no one evolution theory.

[Fidei Defensor]

I think the least that should be done, is to stop sugar coating evolution, and flat out tell the students that it indeed has flaws. They dont have to necesarily teach ID, but atleast dont make it seem as if evolution is the only accepted theory.

[White Knight]

Better to teach [b]"intelligent design"[/b] reguardless if some see it as religious teachings, than be teaching a lie that has been feed since Darwin's time.


What we need to return to is the age where we had schools study Creation and Evolution in the classroom and it was up to the student to decide for themselves what was truth and what was ficition.

Unfortunately this was the beginning stages of what we'd soon be led to Prayer out of schools and Bible out of schools and Evolution only.

Creation had the upper hand, but as the 40's and especially the 50's Evolution started to kick in. Then 1962 Prayer and the Bible were band from school systems agenda.

Edited August 11, 2005 by White Knight