It seems like these arguments keep coming back to the fact that our current understanding of evolution isn't perfect.
I don't see a problem with pointing out the flaws in our current understanding of evolution in a classroom setting. "Lord knows" there are still huge gaps we as scientists sort of jog around since we don't understand them 100%.
In fact, it would be bad science to refrain from mentioning these gaps. Science is all about finding answers, then taking a step back and challenging those answers.
It's about failing repeatedly until something finally works, then finding out why.
If we were always right about everything, we would learn nothing. It's better to see an experiment fail and find out why, then it is to see it succeed, but not know how.
But most people can't understand that good science often fails. We teach that science is truth beyond a reasonable doubt, but how can it be if scientists are wrong so often? People think only that far, then decide it's too much trouble to think about it further and decide that science doesn't have the answers.
And this is where our school systems have failed.
Children need to be taught how to go the extra intellectual step and discover that facts aren't free, or common. "Facts", in their purest form (as rare as they are), only come about after running many many tests and making many many observations. And when science is wrong, it's a good thing because it means that we as humans have taken another step towards learning about the wonders in our world and beyond. And the marvelous thing about humans is our unsurpassed ability to pass this knowledge on to future generations so that we may continue down the path of "intelligent life". Is there a nobler cause than this?
Besides, we have a word for people who accept things without question. Gullible.
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It seems like these arguments keep coming back to the fact that our current understanding of evolution isn't perfect. I don't see a problem with pointing out the flaws in our current understanding of evolution in a classroom setting. "Lord knows" there are still huge gaps we as scientists sort of jog around since we don't understand them 100%. In fact, it would be bad science to refrain from mentioning these gaps. Science is all about finding answers, then taking a step back and challenging those answers. It's about failing repeatedly until something finally works, then finding out why. If we were always right about everything, we would learn nothing. It's better to see an experiment fail and find out why, then it is to see it succeed, but not know how. But most people can't understand that good science often fails. We teach that science is truth beyond a reasonable doubt, but how can it be if scientists are wrong so often? People think only that far, then decide it's too much trouble to think about it further and decide that science doesn't have the answers. And this is where our school systems have failed. Children need to be taught how to go the extra intellectual step and discover that facts aren't free, or common. "Facts", in their purest form (as rare as they are), only come about after running many many tests and making many many observations. And when science is wrong, it's a good thing because it means that we as humans have taken another step towards learning about the wonders in our world and beyond. And the marvelous thing about humans is our unsurpassed ability to pass this knowledge on to future generations so that we may continue down the path of "intelligent life". Is there a nobler cause than this? Besides, we have a word for people who accept things without question. Gullible.