Alabama Board Of Education's Disclaimer On Evolution

When, as we must often do, we fear science, we really fear ourselves. - John Charles Polanyi

Fear is a strong motivator in life and was a reoccurring thought while reading the Alabama Board of Education’s disclaimer on evolution. Let us break down this label by taking a look at its errors and misconceptions, explore the author’s understanding of the scientific method, and muse a little about why there is no warning label for gravity.

For starters, it is safe to say the author of this disclaimer is on the side of creationism, so we will take a crash course on religion. Religion is a social institution that employs the usage of symbols, sacred stories, such as how life originated, rituals, and individuals who are expert in the practice of that

First, the theory of evolution does not equal abiogenesis and the author clearly fails to realize this. Evolution seeks to describe the process in which life forms, wait for it, have evolved and not how they originated. Second, it is repeatedly stated that evolution is to only be considered a theory, and a controversial one at that. This, kudos to the author, is a fact, but the error is in not understanding that the whole of science is constructed of theory. There is no scientific fact, only the framework of theory, composed of facts, which is continuously changing with the attainment of new information. Third, it is stated in the disclaimer that evolution consists of random and undirected forces. While mutation can throw a bit of a wrench into the plans, established mechanisms of change, such as genes, coupled with selective pressures, have direct control on the direction of evolution for fitness within a species. These three fumbles leads one to wonder how strong the author’s grasp on this science stuff could

In case you are unsure, let’s do as we did with religion and give you the rundown on backbone of science, the scientific method. It works like this: make an observation, conduct research, form a hypothesis, test that hypothesis, record your findings, draw a conclusion, and repeat. The disclaimer asks several great questions as to why there are gaps in the research of evolution, all of which are being probed by science, but the author poses them like accusations and labels them as questions on the origin of life. Again, this is not about the origin of life. However, all bias aside, we can see that there is more understanding of science and the scientific method than first thought. All things considered, the author recognizes that evolution is a theory, acknowledges the research science has done, as well as some of the observations arising from those findings, and encourages the student ask questions while keeping an open mind. They even seem to have a kind-of, sort-of grasp on micro and macroevolution. Now, we must ask why anyone with a basic understanding of these things would desire such a disclaimer and if there are warnings on any other education