Good Schools, Darwin and Evolution

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"...every group that wishes to see conflicting interests resolved reasonably, or is wise about the conditions under which it enjoys its own freedom, must be profoundly concerned with the state of freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of inquiry and teaching, freedom of press and other forms of communication, freedom of cultural opportunity and development. For in large measure intelligent moral choice depends upon them."
--Sidney Hook (1902-1988), disciple of John Dewey, and champion of pragmatism and democracy

Poll Finds Strong Support for Teaching 2 Origin Theories

By Mike Carrier (www.goodschools.com)

Nearly 8 out of 10 Americans now favor the teaching of creationism along with evolution in the public schools. According to a New York Times article (3-11-2000), 79% of 1500 Americans questioned thought creationism had a place in the public school curriculum. The poll, conducted by DYG Inc., a polling and research firm in Danbury, Conn., was sanctioned by the People for the American Way Foundation, a liberal civil rights group.

While all such polls have a statistical margin of error (in this case it is deemed to be 2.6%), there remains no question that most people in this nation no longer support the position espoused by the National Education Association (NEA) banning the teaching of any theoretical alternative to Darwin's evolution.

"Some scientists characterized the seemingly contradictory findings as a quixotic effort by the public to accommodate incompatible world views," reports the Times. "But in some ways, even as Americans continue to argue over what students should be taught about human origins, the poll offers encouragement to both sides in the debate."

Interestingly, the Foundation publicized only the part of the survey that found 83 percent of Americans generally supported the teaching of evolution in public schools, virtually ignoring the findings that about half of those responding believed that the theory of evolution was 'far from being proven scientifically." Furthermore, 68% thought it possible to believe in evolution while also believing in some form of creationism.

Another interesting aspect of the survey relates to the notion of 'exclusivism.' The results indicate that about 30 percent of Americans believe that creationism should be taught as a scientific theory, either with or without evolution in the curriculum, while 20 percent believe that evolution should be taught in science class without any mention of creationism.

One of the reasons for the poll was the Foundation's displeasure with (or fear of) the successful efforts by groups such as the Kansas State Board of Education, which voted to remove most references to evolution from state education standards.

Dr. Steve Abrams, a veterinarian and member of the Kansas State School Board who voted to change the state's standards, said the survey's overall results "would seem to be consistent" with opinion in Kansas.

But he objected to a question asking respondents' opinion of the Kansas board's action, saying it did not describe the action accurately.

The question said the board had voted "to delete evolution from their new state science standards" and asked respondents if they supported or opposed that action.

But, Dr. Abrams said, "what we did was to allow local boards of education to decide how they want to deal with evolution. We did not encourage the teaching of creationism at all." Dr. David W. Moore of The Gallup Poll agreed with Dr. Abrams that the Kansas question was poorly worded.

The bottom line seems to be this: While it is a sad time in American history when the results of any poll are used to support a theory, especially a theory regarding such a core element of our public school curriculum; it is encouraging to see the thinness of the limb upon which our good friends in the NEA have chosen to wander.

It would certainly seem that it would take very little courage for a presidential candidate to latch on to this position in setting his agenda for 2000. While it would work for any of the national parties, I do not see Gore bucking the NEA. But, perhaps this will be the year the NEA gets on the right side of intellectual honesty. It should be a natural fit for them on this issue -- for once right thinking and expediency line up.

(I would recommend, as an alternative to Darwin's theories of origins and natural selection, Stuart Kauffman's "The Origins of Order," Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.)

This site features a frank presentation of issues facing parents, taxpayers and schools in reforming schools in the twenty-first century. Good Schools promotes good schools, and explains what is necessary to achieve good schools. We are convinced that good schools can be obtained only with sound curriculum, which does not include the teaching of Darwin's theory of origin, or Darwin's theory of evolution. We believe that local school boards need to be empowered, and the influence of teachers' unions ought to be limited to labor-related issues. Teachers' unions should have no say in curriculum.

We are convinced that the teachings of Darwin, particularly Darwin's teachings on evolution, and Darwin's theories on origins, ought not be taught as fact. Darwin and Darwin's theories are not generally accepted by contemporary physicists and cosmologists, and, therefore, Darwin and Darwin's theories ought not be accepted whole-cloth by our schools of education, and ought not be presented as fact in public schools.

Because Richard Dawkins has set himself up as the number one defender of Darwin and Darwin's theory of evolution, we will go to some length explaining Dawkins' Darwin defenses, and we will do our best to explode Dawkins' Darwin defenses.

We seek to show from Darwin's own hand that Darwin, and Darwin's theory of evolution, are racist at the core. Darwin was a racist, Darwin's theory of evolution is racist, and Darwin's theory of origins is racist.

We further seek to show that Darwin's theory of evolution is not scientific. We show that racism, more than science, was behind Darwin and Darwin's theory of evolution, and Darwin's theory of origins.

Some of the terms commonly used on this site are: Darwin, Dawkins, schools, public schools, education, gun control, teachers, John Dewey, Littleton, racist, racism , school choice, African American, Sidney Hook, evolution, and Mike Carrier.

Bottom line--good schools require work. Good schools do not just happen. We need good schools, if we are to have a good nation.