Teaching Evolution in Schools Essay

In 1859, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published his work “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.” In this book Darwin argued that life forms are not the result of creative activity of an intelligent Creator, but of the variability, heredity and natural selection. With the emergence of the evolutionary theory, the gap that was previously filled with the belief in the Creator could be filled with scientific explanations. The theory of evolution captured the minds of many scientists who started applying it to all branches of knowledge up to history (Marx) and psychology (Freud). Almost 150 years have passed since the theory of evolution appeared, and during that time the debates over it have evolved, adapted, modified, but never stopped.
In recent years the study of evolution theory in schools has come under attack from conservative religious circles, the representatives of which focus on the conflict of ideology that forms the basis of this theory with the religious precepts. In this paper, we’ll prove the necessity of teaching evolution in schools. Although there is no single and universally accepted theory of biological evolution, the fact of evolution is not questioned by scientists, as there is a huge number of supporting scientific facts and theories.
Evolutionary theory (also evolutionism) is a system of ideas and concepts in biology, claiming historical progressive development of the Earth’s biosphere, its component biogeocenoses, as well as individual taxa and species, which can be included into the global evolution of the universe. Thus, Charles Darwin’s theory is based on the evolutionary origin of species by natural selection (Walker, 2011).
In the middle of the 20th century, Darwin’s theory of the origin of species became the basis for the synthetic theory of evolution. The STE is currently the most developed system of representations of the processes of speciation. The basis for the evolution according to the STE is the dynamics of populations’ genetic structure. The main driver of evolution is natural selection. However, science does not stand still and the modern provisions reached by the advanced theoretical developments differ from the original postulates of the synthetic theory of evolution. An impetus to the development of synthetic theory was given by the hypothesis of recessivity of new genes. In terms of genetics of the second half of the 20th century, this hypothesis suggests that during the maturation of gametes, the errors in DNA replication constantly cause mutations – the new gene variants – in each reproduced group of organisms (Walker, 2011).
Evolutionary theory is quite sustainable. Over 150 years of its existence it has accumulated a lot of facts and arguments in its support. One of the most compelling is the case of parasitic worms in the house mouse. It was brought to America from Europe in the 15th century and spread widely throughout the territory. Over 400 years, the worms changed so much that turned into closely related but different species (Walker, 2011). There is a very recent example: scientists released the predatory lizards Leiocephalus carinatus in the Bahamas, which immediately began to hunt for local small lizards Anoles. Biologists assumed that the victims’ legs would first elongate (to enable them run faster from hunters), and then, by contrast, only short-legged Anoles would (as short legs facilitates climbing trees). And their expectations confirmed in a year (Astley, 2009). This case seems to perfectly portray the natural selection in action.
Meanwhile, the issue of introducing evolutionism to school and university curricula is so sharp that in early 2010, 42 Nobel laureates wrote an open letter supporting the new U.S. legislation. It cancels controversial educational standard (Louisiana Act) which allows teachers to use “additional materials” in their sole discretion while describing the theory of evolution, global warming and cloning, and technically allows teachers to teach creationism which recognizes the truth of the Old Testament story of world creation.
Today about a half of Earth’s inhabitants believe that Darwinism should be taught in schools alongside other theories explaining the origin and evolution of species: students have the right to acquire knowledge about all the variety of theories of the origin of life on Earth (Astley, 2009). There is no single theory of evolution; Darwin’s theory of the origin of species is one of many, and many experts consider it logical to tell students about 5-10 different theories of origin of man. In addition, according to many scientists, Darwin’s theory has not received sufficient evidence in science and therefore cannot be considered irrefutable truth (Audi, 2009). Critics of evolutionism believe that the supporters of evolutionary theory are trying to strengthen their monopoly on scientific knowledge and education that has weakened greatly in the last decade (Warnick & Fooce, 2007).
The term “creationism” opposing evolutionism emerged at the end of the 19th century as a reaction of conservative Christians to the dominance of ideas about the evolutionary origin and natural way of living and inanimate nature. Gradually, the contradictions between the new views in science and the biblical view of the world intensified. In 1932, the UK established the “Evolution Protest Movement” which claimed the falsity of Darwin’s theory. In the U.S., the creationists achieved a temporary ban on the teaching of evolutionary biology in schools of several states. In 1975, the teaching of pure creationism was recognized unconstitutional, which caused the replacement of its name for “creation science”, and after it was banned in 1987, for “Intelligent design”, the basic technique used extensively in recent years: maybe the universe is very old, but wherever you look at it, you can see evidence of creator. Thus, even bananas can serve as proof: they are easy to take in hand, easy to peel, they taste good, they incorporate a clear mechanism to guarantee the sale until the expiration date – they blacken. While many scientists believe that universe is chaotic and unpredictable, Intelligent design was again judicially banned in 2005 (Astley, 2009; Audi, 2009).
Modern studies show that it is now 45% of Americans believe that God created life at a certain period of time, but not more than ten thousand years ago. Among American Catholics, 40% say that God created a human just a few thousand years ago (Astley, 2009).
According to the supporters of creationism, the inclusion of the theory of evolution in the school curriculum restricts the right of students and their parents to the freedom of opinion, demonstrates the imposition of a certain worldview by the state, and thus, prevents the formation of religiosity (Warnick & Fooce, 2007). The lack of presentation of different approaches to explaining the origin of life is suffering from the ideological and cultural-philosophical one-sidedness and deprives education from the necessary scientific rigor. In such a way, the religious beliefs of students are not respected, their dignity is infringed due to the fact that they are forced to learn and retell the judgments that are contrary to their beliefs and faith.
In addition, at the beginning of 2010, 514 American scholars, among whom there were one hundred fifty-four biologists, seventy-sixth chemists, and sixty-three physicists, signed a document in which they expressed their skepticism concerning the Darwinian theory of evolution (Walker, 2011). The participants said they doubted the theory of natural selection and considered it their duty to ask the scientific community to conduct a number of additional in-depth studies of Darwin’s theory. Recent discoveries of archaeologists also make the scientific community doubt on the infallibility of the theory. In particular, in September 2005 it became known that the excavations of archaeologists showed the complete bankruptcy of Darwin’s theory. Scientists found in Europe several parking places of the so-called Neanderthals, and the sensational character of the discovery lies in the fact that it turned out that a few thousand years ago, Neanderthals lived together with Homo sapiens. This discovery is completely contractive to the current theories, according to which Neanderthals became extinct long before Homo sapiens. In February 2006, at the Royal Scientific Society conference the results of experiments carried out in volcanic springs were also presented. Scientists suggested that Darwin’s theory that life originated from hot springs is false. The theory was that life could have formed in small warm pools, which was primarily associated with the volcanic hot springs in the area of Kamchatka and Mount Lassen in California. According to the head of the research David Deamer, the obtained information suggests that the warm acidic waters containing clay do not meet the conditions necessary for the emergence of the simplest living organisms. He added that the amino acids, DNA and phosphates so strongly glue up to the particles of clay that the chemical interaction between them becomes impossible (Walker, 2011). There also exist a range other strong arguments against the theory of evolution.
However, responding to the challenges of creationists, it may be noted that according to the scientific researches the age of the universe is about 13 billion years, while men and women evolved from primatial ancestors. It should also be noted that the theory of evolution was even recognized by the Catholic Church in 1996 and later in 2009. But we showed earlier, today the most ardent opponents of Darwin are not the clergy. The biggest controversy surrounding evolutionism is unfolding in the world of science.
Surely, the classic theory of Darwin has been existing for one and a half century, and during this time it has surely become outdated, just the way it happened to the ideas of Copernicus (who thought the orbits of planets are round) or Arrhenius (electrolytic dissociation has long been replaced by the idea of proton acids and bases). With the development of Darwin’s theory, other biologists had to make changes in it: first, it was Mendel and his idea of the discrete nature of heredity; then, in the 20th century, genetics required major adjustments. It is likely that over some time, school program will have to be if not reconsidered, then at least substantially complemented. However, it seems to be impossible to completely abandon the theory of evolution, as in spite of the missing links and significant inaccuracies, scientists have not yet succeeded to completely disprove the evolution as such. Moreover, while being developed and supplemented, the theory has always been and will remain a useful basis for the development of critical thinking among students.