Andrew Mellor

Ms. David
HELA 11 Block 3
18 February 2016
Should Evolution be Taught in Schools?
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious
stupidity (Martin Luther King, Jr). As warned by the late but brilliant civil rights leader Martin
Luther King, Jr sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity are the two most dangerous
things in all the world, especially to those who seek progress, knowledge and empowerment.
These ideas King was warning against were denial and refusal in the face of progress. Then why
do people try to stop these progressive ideas being taught to students? The largest of these cases
of mass-denial is Evolution, people choose to deny proven fact due to personal belief or religious
affiliation, however the true issue emerges when the deniers attempt to keep the information
away from other people. Evolution needs to be taught in all schools, due to irrefutable evidence
and separation of church and state. While this may infringe in academic freedom Evolution is a
subject everyone needs knowledge of, and is one of the most important cornerstones of modern
science.
One common argument is that Evolution is just a theory, which most people attribute to
it having some scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses (Smith, Morgan). By definition a
theory has already been tested thousands of times, and has never been legitimately disproven.
Evolution has insurmountable amounts of proof to back it up, embryonic similarities, skeletal
structures, comparative anatomy and eye witness micro-evolution in the form of Darwins
finches (Five Proofs of Evolution). When compared to the one questionable source of Creationist

proof, The Bible, the difference is simply staggering and makes Evolution the obvious choice for
any scientific academics.
Evolution is the current standard for all Biology classes in America, however it is still
under constant attack in the academic world due to its contradictions to the older belief of
Creationism or Intelligent Design (Creationism Crusade). This is most apparent during the
reemergence of the Tennessee Monkey Trials of 1925 when John Scopes was put on trial for
teaching that man "man has descended from a lower order of animals." Sadly this debate could
not stay in the past and has reemerged through a bill attempting to skirt teaching "scientific
subjects that may cause debate and disputation," (Monkey Business Again). These incidents are
not isolated, they are happening all across the country from local schools to district courts, but
they are always rejected. Luckily the First Amendment makes the merging of Creationist beliefs
with public education impossible due to the separation of church and state that the US
constitution demands.
Some say that creationism should be taught in schools due to necessity for academic
freedom (Creationism Crusade). If this definition academic freedom if it were truly free then the
material taught would not come from one set of beliefs. It is very rare for different religions to
agree on the origin of life while fundamentalist Christians accept Creationism, Protestants and
western Muslims are deist and have accepted Evolution for decades, and Buddhism believes in a
series of constructive and destructive cycles called Kalpa (religioustolerance.org). In contrast to
the idea of academic freedom in an atmosphere of so many diverse beliefs the teaching of
Creationism in schools would agree with the ideas of only a very small group, and could possibly
make school into a vehicle for religious hostility and violence due to stark empowerment on one
set of beliefs and intellectual oppression of non-fundamentalist ideas.

Evolution should be taught in schools as it logical, ethical, and non-bias alternative to

creationism or any number of religious affiliated alternatives. It is the only option with
substantial proof and support behind it. It is just as controversial as Copernicus heliocentric
solar system in the 1600s and is just as well proven. And as we now accept that the Earth orbits
the Sun we will soon accept the truth behind the existence of mankind.