  Sophomore biology class in Orange Park, Florida |
David Campbell switched on the overhead projector and wrote “Evolution” in the rectangle of light on the screen.
He scanned the faces of the sophomores in his Biology I class. Many of them, he knew from years of teaching high school in this Jacksonville suburb, had been raised to take the biblical creation story as fact. His gaze rested for a moment on Bryce Haas, a football player who attended the 6 a.m. prayer meetings of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in the school gymnasium.
“If I do this wrong,” Mr. Campbell remembers thinking on that humid spring morning, “I’ll lose him.”
In February, the Florida Department of Education modified its standards to explicitly require, for the first time, the state’s public schools to teach evolution, calling it “the organizing principle of life science.” Spurred in part by legal rulings against school districts seeking to favor religious versions of natural history, over a dozen other states have also given more emphasis in recent years to what has long been the scientific consensus: that all of the diverse life forms on Earth descended from a common ancestor, through a process of mutation and natural selection, over billions of years.But in a nation where evangelical Protestantism and other religious traditions stress a literal reading of the biblical description of God’s individually creating each species, students often arrive at school fearing that evolution, and perhaps science itself, is hostile to their faith.
Passionate on the subject, Mr. Campbell had helped to devise the state’s new evolution standards, which will be phased in starting this fall. A former Navy flight instructor not used to pulling his punches, he fought hard for their passage. But with his students this spring, he found himself treading carefully, as he tried to bridge an ideological divide that stretches well beyond his classroom.
Especially in Florida…tee hee.
I can only be thankful that this is considered, for the most part, a non issue in the UK.
“David Campbell switched on the overhead projector and wrote “Evolution” in the rectangle of light on the screen.”
Wait. the teacher turned on a projector, and then he wrote in the white box of light? I know school budgets are rough, but get some transparencies please. 😉
For now. The way your country has been bending over for Islam, I’d say in a few decades the UK will be an Islamic State. Then we’ll see what will be taught in your schools.
The photo is priceless.
Those two kids look like this guy is telling them impossible to believe news…
“You mean we are the descendants of WHAT!?!?”
It would be nice if the people complaining about all this alleged “bending over” for Islam would wait for the “bending over for Islam” stories before they post.
It’s hard enough having a decent conversation about Evolution without having to shout over the grinding of all the other political axes out there.
I’m not for “creationism” but why don’t they just take evolution as how God made the world? Technically it is still an act of God (Evolution), just that it was done longer than “1 day” as written in the Bible… They do not have to take the “7 days” to create the world literally… It could’ve been interpreted as 7 “millenia” not as days…. The Bible is open for interpretation, and Genesis doesn’t literally mean 7 days to create the world as we mere mortals perceive it to be…. In other words, why don’t they just get along?
Can’t anybody ever get the gist of all this? The human mind, or whatever it is, has not yet “evolved” well enough to comprehend itself or its place in the universe.
“If the mind were simple enough to understand, then we ourselves would thus be too simple to understand it.”
Mickey Mouse is a surprisingly good place to start. I guess it would have been a tad over the heads of a bunch of students who’ve had creationism drilled into their heads to go as far with it as Steven Jay Gould did in using Mickey as an analogy to illustrate the evolutionary phenomenon of neoteny.
However, Mickey is still a good choice for the teacher’s illustration of selection. Well done Mr. Campbell.
A BIOLOGICAL HOMAGE TO MICKEY MOUSE – Stephen Jay Gould
#7 – roland,
Yes. That’s another of Gould’s points, one with which I personally disagree, about non-overlapping magisteria.
Unfortunately though, if you read this article more carefully, this is not about the run of the mill religious folks who interpret the bible and have no problem with ascribing longer time periods than a day for each “day” in the bible.
These are fundamentalists reading every word literally. They would be completely unable to interpret a day as longer or state that god used evolution to make humans. It says 6 days in the book, so 6 days it must be. And, it says god used a rib, not evolution. Since the bible is 100% correct, even when it is self-contradictory, it must be right on this point as well. Q.E.D.
As for why I disagree with Gould on non-overlapping magisteria, it is simple. To believe in that for which there is no evidence is contrary to science. I personally find the two wholly inconsistent. If someone else can divide their brain that way and not attempt to reconcile the two, fine for them. It doesn’t work for me.
#7, roland,
but why don’t they just take evolution as how God made the world?
Because that would be wrong. “God” didn’t create the world any more than he created you, me, our dog, or that tree in Scarborough with the funny bark.
In other words, why don’t they just get along?
Because that would involve teaching a lie. Science is based upon and backed by that which can be demonstrated as true. There is nothing in the bible about the earth’s creation that can be demonstrated.
We know the earth ain’t flat. Even if it looks that way.
We know the earth revolves a round the sun. The moon orbits the earth. That is how we get night and day.
The sun is part of a galaxy called the Milky Way. There are many galaxies.
And we know what causes the rain. And it ain’t prayer.
Strangely, I went to a Catholic high school, and even THEY taught evolution in our biology courses.
Evolution is a theory regarding the passing of genetic material from one generation to another, and how certain characteristics thrive better or worse in a particular environment. Why is it so threatening?
The reason that “all getting along” does not work is the disagreement over time frames more than anything else. When one group shows that the earth is billions of years old and the other says 6000 there is no way to compromise.
One thing we can all agree on is those kids look like they need more PE time than a sedentary biology class. Hit the track!
#13, JC,
Yes, but 6,000 in god years is equal to 4.5 billion actual years. God wears one of those hour glass watches.
#14 – Yep, murderball fodder if I’ve ever seen.
# 12
Because to many Evangelics a Catholic is not a Christian.
These kids are in science class. Why should there be any problem with their teacher teaching science?
One of my very Christian friends complained in high school biology that we were being taught evolution. I told her that it’s a science class, and we were being taught science. Then she said that it was wrong to teach that. Then I rebutted that we had to read from Genesis in English class, and I told her that it’s wrong to teach religion to an atheist. From there, we both dropped the subject and never talked about religion again.
It’s nonsense to apply some sort of faith based calendar to the study of science. I’m impressed that this teacher has the patience to do what he does. He’s outstanding.
A teacher’s job is to give their students the tools step away from ignorance towards knowledge. It’s pathetic when his starting point is taught and purposeful ignorance.
#13 – John C Dvorak,
The reason that “all getting along” does not work is the disagreement over time frames more than anything else. When one group shows that the earth is billions of years old and the other says 6000 there is no way to compromise.
Um … wouldn’t the compromise between 4.5 billion years and 6,000 years simply be 2,250,003,000 years? 🙂
Funny thing though, science doesn’t really compromise well. The data simply is. It doesn’t really care what we stupid humans think of it. Maybe it’s that damn fundamentalist data that is so unwilling to change. That’s the cause of all of our problems … too much real hard data!
You think that’s bad? In my Masters of Information Technology program, the head of the computer science department taught my Visual Basic class on a PROJECTOR with transparencies.
Masters of IT
Head of the computer sciences taught the class…
…on an OVERHEAD PROJECTOR with transparencies…
#21 – And?
Overhead Projectors are awesome 🙂
Here’s how out of touch the teacher is: ““If I do this wrong,” Mr. Campbell remembers thinking on that humid spring morning, “I’ll lose him.”
Teenage football player who prays at 600AM==thats my definition of “lost already.”
Society doesn’t need more unqualified biology majors. Society does need more janitors and sewers workers. Don’t fight god’s plan.
On a lighter note, Adult Lay Preacher Daughter lives next door with, and taking care of, infirmed Mother. Big argument last night and daughter leaves the house to motel room. The issue is the daughter says when you die you go to heaven and god gives you a choice as to whether or not you go to Heaven or Hell. ((BTW–if thats when you get to choose, I’m in like Flynt!!). Mother disagrees saying you are judged when you die.
Both used the bible as their authoritative choice explicitly revealing the word of god. Good to see religion bringing families together.
The Bible should only be taught in mythology classes.
#23 – bobbo,
You thought the bible was supposed to bring families together??!!? What the hell bible were you reading?
Deut 13:7-11:
Of course, the new testament is better, right?
Matthew 10:35-37:
Great family values in the bible. Honestly, I can’t imagine how the trashy novel has survived this long, let alone been the best seller in all of history. People are stupid.
#25–Scott==Wow!
So “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” is more an understatement?
Society will not move forward until we treat religion as what it is….mythology created by people to try to explain things they don’t understand.
Science is the only way to truly understand the world around us.
Cablguy said: “Science is the only way to truly understand the world around us.”
I’m a guy who thinks it’s idiotic to teach intelligent design or spontaneous combustion or whatever in biology. I also think that it’s possible to learn about the world around us in a variety of ways – literature, art, music, philosophy, being some examples.
I would be thrilled if religious beliefs gave us insight into the material world, but it falls spectacularly short, just as it did in philosophy.
The fundimental problem with folks is that they believe that fundimentals run the christian religion. THEY DO NOT!! There are many many issues in the bible that if read with a fundimental belief, would get you in jail in less than 24 hours.
Evolution is justr another issue that can not be explained as a fundimental issue.
To John C.
I disagree. It’s not about reconciling the time mismatch. It’s about the bible being the word of G-d.
It either is or is not. If it’s the word of G-d then, by definition, it’s all correct – end of story.
True believers can’t afford to question parts of the bible, because all their beliefs would then be open to question – clearly unacceptable.