Challenges to Evolution – Should they be Taught?
Posted on 25. Mar, 2009 by Goode Fellow in General Sciences
Challenges to Evolution - Should open discussion be allowed in the classroom?
That is the main question being put to the test this week by the Texas Board of Education on a new science curriculum which would challenge evolution as a rock solid fact.
Should Challenges to the Evolution Theory be Taught?
The question has been raised and will now be going to a vote about whether or not some of the problems with the evolutionary theory should be taught in Texas schools. In an article written by Stephanie Simon of the Wall Street Journal, she writes: “The textbooks will “have to say that there’s a problem with evolution — because there is,”"; quoting Dr. McLeroy, a dentist and the school board chairman.
If all the transitional links are still missing - then why are they still taught?
She continues to write:
“…there are unanswered questions — transitional fossils yet to be unearthed, biological processes still to be discovered. There is lively scientific debate about some aspects of evolution’s winding, four-billion-year path. But when critics talk about exposing students to the “weaknesses” or “insufficiency” in evolutionary theory, many mainstream scientists cringe.”
Why do these mainstream scientists cringe at challenges to their theory – especially if there are enough holes in their theory that it looks like Swiss cheese? Isn’t real science all about challenges, and trying to test the theories and the problems with those theories in order to find what is the correct answer? If children today are not exposed to those challenges then how would they ever be expected to find the answers? How will they ever rise to the challenge of the unknown and explore testable data to prove or disprove a theory?
So What is a Theory?
In the scientific world a theory is something that is a tested and testable concept used to explain an occurrence of something.
“In the sciences, theories are created after observation and testing. They are designed to rationally and clearly explain a phenomenon. For example, Isaac Newton came up with a theory about gravity in the 17th century, and the theory proved to be both testable and correct.” Wisegeek.com
Isaac Newton’s theory became the “Law of Gravity” because no matter how many times it is tested it has never been proven false. On the other hand, the quote above states that a theory is something that is observable and testable.
Do mainstream scientists have trouble with the challenges of evolution because they like to call evolution science and the very definition of science is something that is “testable and observable”? What about the other flaws to evolution – when, if not in the classroom should today’s children be exposed to the problems with the evolution theory?
Should these challenges could be exposed?
- Lack of evidence in the fossil record – after 150 years of Darwinian hypothesis? Darwin believed that the lack of evidence in the fossil record would turn up over time and thus prove his conjecture that there should be many transitional forms found in the fossils – however, after 150 years the fossil record is still lacking any transitional forms.
- The geologic record shows that species do not change significantly through time.
- after 400 million years the long thought to be extinct Coelacanth and the link between fish and land animals – stills swims in the ocean, still looks like a Coelacanth and is certainly not extinct.
- Laws of Thermodynamics
- Lack of Moon Dust
- Electromagnetic Field
- Speed of Light
Evolutionary Challenges Poll
Is is safe to assume that evolution has some scientific problems and if these issues are not address than how can any further scientific advancements be made if our old assumptions are not brought to the light of scrutiny?
Perhaps if the “Evolutionary Theory” could rise up to the ‘challenges’ of the scientific community, then it wouldn’t have to be concerned with critical oversight. What do you think? We would like you to take our poll and give us your opinion. Should the challenges of evolution be taught in the classroom or should that information be suppressed from any scrutiny?
