Should evolution be taught in schools?

For a rationalist, or indeed anyone that values scientific knowledge (as opposed to uninformed opinion) and how we acquire it, this question seems utterly preposterous, why even have such a question? Evolution has been an established fact for over 200 years so why on earth would we still be debating if we should even talk about it.

Take a look at this little clip of miss USA delegates being asked this very same question, it's fascinating, is this really a cross section of mainstream American opinion?. Now then, I'm keen to resist the urge to make wise cracks about the kinds of women that compete in beauty parades, that would be too easy, in actual fact none of the responses are too horrible from a general coherence point of view at all. However, many thought that evolution shouldn't be taught at all and out of those that thought it should, none thought it should for what I would consider to be the "right" reason.



So, regardless of what we believe religion-wise, why should evolution, or indeed any science be taught at all, here are some of the suggestions from the "girls".

- It should be taught because children should be given every possible opinion and then they can decide what they want to believe.

- It should be taught as a theory only, not as a fact.

- It shouldn't be taught because I am a Christian and I don't believe it at all

- It should be taught but we should miss out Human evolution, because that's controversial

- It should be taught because it's part of the belief system of the West

- It shouldn't be taught but it should be mentioned, since it might not be compatible with the morals of the child's parents.

- It shouldn't be taught because so many different cultures have their own beliefs

- It should be taught as long as its given equal time with creation

Looking down this list it's not difficult to see why there is so much confusion regarding this question, some of the answers even sound reasonable. However, it's clear that many people were simply parroting the propaganda of their religious sects or indeed woolly concepts of post-modernism and yet showed no signs of actually arriving at those views by any rational means. It's also clear that science education, critical thinking and reasoning skills among this group is somewhat weak, I found it ironic that so many of them offered the "teach both sides" defence when they hadn't got a grasp of the "other side" of that argument. It's not only the facts of science that are lacking but the rationale behind science and why it is the basis of our modern lives, why it's so successful and why so many other means of acquiring knowledge are not.

Of course, the correct answer to this question is...

"Evolution should be taught in science class because it has an overwhelming mountain of physical evidence that supports it and because of that it forms one of the core pillars of Biology, without evolution nothing in Biology is understandable. It should be taught because it is as certain as any other major scientific theory, for example the theory of gravity, the germ theory of disease, quantum theory, thermodynamic theory etc.

Evolution should be taught as science because science is not about personal beliefs or opinions, science deals with the study of evidence and reason in order to formulate explanations of reality that can be tested. Religion and personal belief systems on the other hand belong in philosophy, religious education and history classes, not science classes, religious instruction belongs at home and in church."

Hopefully this answer explains why all the previous suggestions are flawed, although Miss California and Miss Vermont get my vote, actually Miss California eventually won - although that's probably got more to do with what she looks like in a bikini than her being a science geek... they never had science geeks like that in my day!