The Teaching of Creationism in School
We live in 21st century America, where we take all our liberties for granted.
However, one of our educational liberties, the access to a secular education, is being broken by schools all over the country. Although Evolution has been proven scientifically, school boards all over the country want to provide their opinions to students. Creationism ends up being taught in schools, partly thanks to organizations like the Discovery Institute, who have “credible scientists providing” evidence that Creationism has hard facts whilst Evolution is false. Thirteen percent of all biology teachers in the country openly advocate Creationism, meaning that many kids aren’t getting the education they deserve. Why is this happening? Since we live in a country that is 75% Christian, we are bound to have some sort of arguments on the topic of whether Evolution should be taught in school.
In the South and in other primarily Christian regions, where kids are taught creationism from a young age, it’s difficult to implement hard facts, such as evolution. The teachers in such regions are very commonly Creationists, and advocate their beliefs to students. How can we stop this? In 2009 the State Board of Education in Texas voted on the case of whether Texas biology textbooks should have the positive and negative attributes of Evolution taught in them. The negative attributes about Evolution, demanded by many in the Texas State Board of Education removed all credibility for Evolution, and showed that it was false. By sending credible scientists to the vote, the positive and negative attributes were not implemented in Texas textbooks. The right to secular education is a right that is guaranteed.
However, that’s not always the case. To make sure that Evolution is being taught in schools all over the country, and students receive the rights that are guaranteed to them, School Boards all over the country need the be shown the hard facts. As a world power in the 21st century, we need to step up our game and separate fact from fiction.
