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Should Evolution Be Taught In Schools

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What do you think of when you hear the word evolution? Debates between creationists and scientists? High School biology class? It seems for many high schoolers in America they aren’t fully understanding the concepts of evolution in their courses or have a lack of it in their curriculum at all. A study in 2007 showed that 13% of biology teachers endorse creationism, 21% say that creationism or intelligent design is a valid alternative to evolution, and 22% percent spend time on these topics in their classroom. What is more shocking it that, 60% of teachers don’t cover evolution at all or distort the interpretation saying evolution and creationism are on equal scientific footing (Keep 2015). So how should teachers deal with teaching evolution? All students …show more content…

The theory of evolution is significant to learn about for anyone who wants a better understanding of the natural world. Darwin’s theorized that organisms changed over time through natural selection. These changes could be physical or behavioral traits that help them to better survive in their environment and reproduce (Than, 2015). However, many see the theory of evolution as a controversial topic intruding on their religious beliefs. Natural selection says that given enough time more than just small changes to an organism can occur. For instance, natural selection has lead to theories about human evolution from ancestors of apes. Some religious people see this on an attack

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In 1925, the Tennessee legislature passed the Butler Act which banned the teaching of the evolution of mankind in public schools. John T Scope, a football coach and, mathematics teacher, was accused of teaching evolution as a substitute biology teacher. In this re-trial, I hold a position as a jury. Several witnesses had supportive arguments and evidences. Harry Shelton from the prosecution side and Henry F Osborn from the defense side presented the most convincing evidences respectively as Harry’s evidence presented was very acrimonious and unpleasing to John T Scopes and Henry F Osborn provided valid and scientific information to us and the judge.

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Why do most stories have characters with similar traits? Most novels or any type of story, they have different archetypal characters. In the novel “The Hobbit” by J.R.R Tolkien the three characters Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the wizard, and Smaug the destroyer, they are all archetypal characters. Throughout the story Bilbo goes on an adventure to defeat smaug. Bilbo eventually defeats smaug and returns what he finds.

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Additionally, it would turn religious individuals away from theories of science such as evolution. In response, Harris argues that “the goal is to get them [religious individuals] to value the principles of reasoning and educated discourse that now make a belief in evolution obligatory” (Harris). Instead of convincing the religious community to acknowledge the truth behind scientific theories, religious individuals should be able to understand why they are true. In Harris's opinion, understanding the reason behind ideas like evolution and valuing the education they can offer is more important than settling for the religious community to simply tolerate scientific theories. Having religious communities learn to value the reasoning and logic behind science could bring the two communities closer

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Causing an anti-evolution movement to sweep across the nation as many religious groups to speak out against the teaching of evolution being re added. In the 1960’s they came up with a theory and introduced it nationally as “creation science”. “The theory of creation science claimed that the universe and life in it came about suddenly and from nothing”(Childs). Those that tended to agree with this theory consisted of religious citizens who believed the theory of darwin contained insufficient information. They argued that earth and life were recent creations, humans and apes come from different ancestors, and that earth's geology was initiated by sudden, violent events .(Hanson)The result of having different mindsets evidently show the barrier that these teachings have on the United States.

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In addition, scientists use the homologous structure as evidence for evolution by using structures with different appearances and functions that derived from the same body parts in a common ancestor. Furthermore, natural selection is evidence for evolution because for example, when Darwin collected birds they were a closely related group of distinct species, but the different beak shapes were related to food gathering. Artificial selection is another piece of evidence for evolution in which operates by favoring individuals with certain phenotypic traits allowing them to reproduce and pass their genes to the next generation. Overall many biologists accepted Darwin’s theories but there are some objections such as how evolution is not demonstrated, no fossil intermediates, the intelligent design argument, evolution violating the second law of thermodynamics, proteins are too improbable, the irreducible complexity argument, and how natural selection does not imply

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Furthermore, the Mormon & Catholic Church are great examples to demonstrate how both can coexist. Very well-known Mormon scientist Henry Eyring never opposed any of the two views but rather saw how they both needed each other. By stating, “Science tries to pursue and find the truth in all its forms and the LDS church is ultimately interested in the truth”. Pope Pius XII said that Catholic Church teachings on creation could coexist with evolutionary theory (Humani Generis). With this being said, evolution ultimately answers the how and religion asks why?

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Dixon In 1950, in the encyclical “Humani Generis”, Pope Pius XII said that Catholic lessons on Creation could coexist with Evolutionary Theory. Pope John Paul II went a tad further in 1996, calling Evolution “more than a hypothesis.” In many circumstances, Creationism has refuted scientific theories and has unraveled the lot that science, in most schools has taught us about human derivation. Evolution and Creation are two of the most common theories of human origin, although numerous religious people believe in Creation, the bible’s timeline does not match up with the scientific timeline, humans have not existed in their existing form since “the beginning”, and Creationism continually rejects itself, for these reasons Creationism should be

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The theory of evolution was formulated by Charles Darwin who first formulated his theory in 1859, defined it as the “process by which organisms change over time because of changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits. Changes that allow an organism to better adapt to its environment will help it survive and have more offspring.” (Than, 2018) It is natural selection that decides what changes the organism needs so that those changes allow the organism to better adapt to its new environment, it is the biggest evolutionary mechanism. Its purpose is for evolutionary success to promote growing populations of the next generations to come.

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The education system of this nation is biased. Evolution has been taught as Scientific fact for many years and creationism has been treated as just a religious belief and not worthy to be taught. Even though evolutionism is also a belief that has yet to be proven, it is taught as fact in every science class in America. The Supreme court has deemed that requiring educators to teach evolution and also teach creationism unconstitutional, but declaring that was merely a violation of equality and freedom of religion. (Epperson v. Arkansas) Creationism can’t be taught as a response to the theory of evolution, nor does creationism meet the faith of scientists.

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In 1856, a naturalist by the name of Charles Darwin developed a theory he called Natural Selection, or “Survival of the Fittest.” With this theory, Darwin defied all theologically and scientifically accepted beliefs, claiming that “species evolve from a more primitive species through the process of evolution or adaptation.” Natural selection can be defined simply as nature’s way of deciding which individual living creatures will adapt and prosper in not only the harsh wilderness, but in civilized societies as well. This theory remains as one of the most debatable and arguable topics of all time, one that opened the eyes and thoughts of the developed society to the natural world. However scientifically educated you may be, there is no debate

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Evolution should be taught in school because it shows that all creatures have anatomical and functional characteristics, shows the evolution of disease and agricultural process, and teaches kids a moral value that not just human lives matter, animals as well. By teaching evolution, you can see the similarities between creatures, “Similarities between even widely disparate types of the organism exist at every level, from externally visible resemblances to profound resemblances in life-cycles and the structure of the genetic material. Biological classification, embryonic development, vestigial organs, sexual reproduction, inheritance, genes, mutations, and DNA sequencing are all discussed. Similarities between species have a natural and straightforward explanation in the idea that organisms are related through an

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For instance, when I was taught about the different religions in middle school, it was done is a very matter-of-fact way. All that was discussed were the facts, such as that religion's beliefs, its origin, its holy book, etc. The teacher's personal beliefs (if there were any) were not discussed. I believe that evolution should be taught in the same way. Give students the facts and the scientific evidence behind it, and then leave it at that.

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Evolution has long been touted by scientists, athiests, and Christians alike to be the only theory of how life began that is not religious in nature. All other theories require some form of belief in a Creator. 6This includes Intelligent Design. However, there are many reasons to suggest that evolution is just as much based on faith as Creationism. Not only does evolution fit all four criteria of religion, but it holds significant influence over social and ethical issues, and many evolutionists admit that their belief in evolution is faith-based, rather than scientifically derived.

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In the United States there has been a debate over whether or not the theory of evolution should be taught in public school science classes. The reason why there is so much debate around this topic is that Evolution is not a proven fact, it is only a theory. A theory is “a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something”(dictionary.com). A “supposition” is not scientific enough to say for certain that something is true; it is merely a hunch. While The theory of evolution is only a hunch it does have a wealth of evidence in its favor, for example, how all the genus homo animals became more and more like humans and less like apps as time passed.

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Many scientists have proposed theories relating to evolution, and Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is the one that is accepted today. In 1859, he proposed his own theory, which consisted of the concept of natural selection and ‘survival of the fittest’. He spent most of his life researching on an island and had concluded that organisms alter over time “as a result of changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits” (Ker Than, 2015). Darwin also concluded that favorable changes in an organism allowed the organism to remain alive. The phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ sums this conclusion up; the phrase

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