7 of 40

Write now Article Tools

Page 3 of 3

isn't scary, and while the methods used to validate it again and again are complicated, what the theory actually states is simple.

The theory of evolution proposes that in a system containing complexity and competition, selection happens. That's another element giving evolution so much power: it is staggeringly simple, yet can explain the life around us.

Some anti-science pundits try to knock evolution down, but since they aren't scientists - and worse, barely understand science, if at all - what they throw at it bounces right off.

They like to call evolution "Darwinism." This makes it sound dogmatic and anti-intellectual, and we've no need to call it that, just as we needn't call gravity "Newtonism." Both fields have surpassed their creators' original revolutionary works. Great groups of hardworking scientists have shown the theories to cover more ground than initially intended by their discoverers. The theories have left their creators in the dust, and now stand on their own.

Another tool used to combat evolution is the "micro-evolution" vs. "macro-evolution" comparison, which suggests that while a species may change slightly over a short period of time, the mechanism causing this can not produce great changes over a long period of time.

This is a false distinction. While it takes less time to walk to the kitchen than it does to walk to the store, we still put foot before foot in order to get there. Time is the only difference - and given enough time, small biological changes accumulate into large ones.

Anti-evolutionists demand "transitional fossils" from paleontology, fossils of species that fill the evolutionary gap between species. Many of these have been found - take, for example, the many feathered dinosaurs discovered - yet, the anti-evolutionists aren't satisfied.

They now want the species between the feathered dinosaur and the bird, and between the feathered dinosaur and an earlier dinosaur. Every time evidence of one transitional fossil is given, two more gaps are created, and if the anti-evolutionists had their way, this would continue exponentially until every single species ever to have lived is found - an impossible expectation.

People don't like the idea that we evolved from primates, especially if this is coupled with the unfounded conviction that because we came from them, we must BE them, and no different from them. Obviously we're special. Scientists and non-scientists agree on this.

Despite general agreement (demonstrated every time a creationist mother gives her child an antibiotic) sometimes science steps on some cultural toes, and the culture needs to catch up. No, we aren't "monkeys," we aren't chimps or gorillas - but nor are we miniature gods. We're just animals called "humans," and some extraordinarily special animals indeed.

Misconceptions abound about evolution, most notably in religious circles. Such misconceptions, when thrown forward not as queries, but as accusations and arguments, are exactly why children need to be taught about evolution in schools. Evolutionary theory doesn't just enrich biology class by offering an overarching, causal explanation for what is learned - it enriches the lives of millions of people every single day, in a very demonstrable way.

Most importantly, evolutionary theory is reality.

Learn more about this author, Currie Jean.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3

Add your voice

Know something about Why schools teach the theory of evolution?
We want to hear your view. Write now!