by Zachary Heil

Created on: November 30, 2008

The "controversy" behind evolutionary theory and the classroom seems to have exploded into a great mass of confusion in the last decade. The debate over the theory belonging in the classroom has been going on for many decades, but thanks to increasing media outlets it has become a personal ambition of many Americans to bring the discussion to every home. Unfortunately, the discussion becomes conflicted with mixed emotions and opinions without scientific merit, and has therefore led many people to dead ends and misconceptions about what the entire debate is actually about.

Evolutionary theory is the cornerstone of modern biology, and its overwhelming acceptance and study in the scientific community is the reason it's taught in schools. Aside from offering elective classes in schools, it is of no benefit to teach supposition and conjecture. There are many professors and scientists through out the world that are passionate about the popularization of science and more importantly, the greater understanding of it, so that the general public can make educated decisions about what their children are taught. These advocates of reason and logic are not out to deter people from their spiritual or philosophical beliefs, for it is out of their league and irrelevant to what belongs in scientific curriculum. There is a video series that I highly recommend to anyone that's interested in the educational system in America. It's available online, and is comprised of many accredited, awarded, and admired professors and scientists. The video series aims to teach the general public of the dangers of non-science brought into scientific classrooms, as well as the alarming rise of poor education and ignorance in America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV4_lVTVa6k

Some of the persistences that sparks the "controversy" are the supposed theories and suggestions encompassing Intelligent Design and Creationism. The problem with these not holding any water to the argument of credibility, is they aren't scientific theories. They are only hypotheses, and mostly are quite easily falsifiable. For instance the strongest argument for Intelligent Design is Irreducible Complexity, a hypothesis that has been falsified many times over. In fact there is a wonderful video available online where the famous biologist Kenneth Miller lectures (at Case Wester University) on how unscientific Intelligent Design theory is, as well as explaining in easy to understand terms, just how falsifiable Irreducible Complexity

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