Creationism in Schools
Education at schools and secondary education curriculum structure is one of the controversial questions in modern day politic.
In spite of great changes in science and social studies, some critics insist that creationism will be taught at schools. During the past several decades professional leaders in the churches and increasing numbers of the laity have become aware of a reawakened theological interest. Signs have been accumulating to indicate that the theological depression of the modern period has been drawing to its close and that new directions in biblical scholarship, theological formulation, and interconnections between faith and culture have been under way. Thesis Creationism should not be taught in schools because it may puzzle young children and results in unrealistic picture of the world.The main goal and purpose of education is to develop children and help them to master universal skills and knowledge.
Creationism is a thing of the past accepted and valued by a small among of religious people only. Creationism should not be taught in schools because it proposes unrealistic and hypothetical doctrines. This view of what a education should do recalls the essential heritage of learning, because it assumes that the mind’s development and growth, within the context of broad understanding, avoids the danger that in doing only what is believed to be “relevant” to today’s needs, it may prove to be painfully irrelevant to tomorrow’s (Beitborde and Swiniarsku 55). Beyond this, the search for a responsible understanding education gives renewed importance to studies which send students’ roots deeper into their cultural heritage. Today there is increasing recognition that cultural educational dimensions call for a more universal curriculum than we have known. Such studies require time and, when they are accepted as being fundamentally important, then difficulties are posed for education along technological lines, toward narrow nationalistic political ends or for the achievement of cultural parochialism and isolation.
To insist that schools must exercise a critical function in our culture, that time must be allowed for creative thought, and that incentives must be provided for an historical approach to human issues in the contemporary world, all call for, and are in part prompted by, a profound Christian concern about learning and society. If there is to be more than shallow thought and vulgarized culture, then there must be not only a new dedication to the cultivation of the mind, but also a growth in world-mindedness that will assure the future of educated persons who will find all historical epochs, all persons throughout the earth, and all significant streams of thought and culture ethically relevant (Beitborde and Swiniarsku 88).Creationism should not be taught in schools because it contradicts greatly the theory of evolution and development of species. From young age, children should have a clear vision of reproduction and biological development. Reproduction has been called growth beyond the limits of the individual, that is, the production of new individuals. Biology accepts that idea that most cells have the ability to form two cells.
In some cases one cell can divide into many cells. In any case, reproduction is an increase in number of cells or of organisms. Reproduction ensures survival of the species. Organisms are relatively fragile systems; being complex and highly ordered they are liable to a variety of malfunctions. Heat, drought, too much or too little light, a variety of everyday occurrences can severely, damage, and even kill, living systems. Survival wins out over extinction of a species when organisms reproduce faster than old ones die.
But this can, on occasion, lead to overpopulation. When that happens, death rates often catch up again to birth rates, and the population goes back to a size that can be supported by the environment. The appearance of the organism depends upon (1) the genetic material passed on by the parents and (2) factors in the environment. In asexual reproduction, the genetic material of the parent is passed intact, except for rare mutations, to the progeny. This is a very conservative way of reproducing.
In sexual reproduction, only one-half the genetic material of each parent is passed to the progeny. This results in a combination of genetic material different from that of each parent. In both asexual and sexual reproduction, the environment can affect the expression of the genetic material, so that the phenotype (the outward appearance) of the progeny varies. Overall, then, it is rare that progeny are perfect replicas of their parents, and thus reproduction with variation is a common characteristic of all living things. One very obvious structural characteristic shared by living things is that they are cellular, although viruses are an exception.
We need to say something more about cellular organization, and then we can take a more meaningful look at viruses (Beitborde and Swiniarsku 44).In sum, the theory of creationism cannot explain the development and growth of plants, animals and universal evolution. Children should have a clear and trustworthy picture of the world in order to live and survive in faulty life. Speaking broadly, they should understand that the species within a genus resemble each other more closely than they resemble species in other genera, the genera within a family resemble each other more closely than they resemble genera in other families, and so on. Whereas the history of Christian thought shows early efforts to establish the central importance of nature and later of history as authentic means of God’s self-revelation, recent theological endeavors assign similar importance to personal and corporate human emphases as Christian faith is seen in the context of personal encounter and man’s existence in community.
The core of this process is the mastery of the disciplines of scholarly endeavor, intensive study in several areas and the development of an acquaintance with other subjects, and training in the arts and skills of communicating truth to others.
