Creation in the Classroom

Over the centuries, the debate surrounding science and religion has escalated and proliferated. Topics of scrutiny have included abortion, euthanasia, organ/tissue donation, and the teaching of creation in public schools. The long disputed history of creation in the classroom originated from the beliefs and affirmations of the nation's founding fathers; building the foundation of our nation with the love of God and country, ensuring a right to education and religion. As the assertion of such ideals diminish, the rarity accumulates.

Upon the discovery of the adopted anti-evolution insert located in her textbooks, Sandra Maxwell became directly involved in the ongoing controversy. Her decision on the subject would be reflected upon herself as an educator, the science department of Irving Community College and her biology students. In response to the situation, Ms. Maxwell could: 1. Offer to teach creation, voluntarily, to interested students. This option would require additional effort on behalf of the teacher to create lessons plans for these studies. 2. Provide her students with materials, e.g. websites, books, additional material, etc. for individual studies. Equipping her students allows them to discover the theory and beliefs behind creation. In this way, Ms. Maxwell isn't pushing a religion upon her students, while allowing them to further their education individually. 3. Teach both creation and evolution neutrally. Dr. Henry Morris, founder of the Institute for Creation Research, surmises that "the only effective way to get creationism taught properly is to have it taught by teachers who are willing to do it and adequately prepared to do it" (Morris, 1975). Prior to making her decision, Ms. Maxwell should consult with other educators and establish additional options. It's important for her as a teacher to think of her commitment to her students and their education. In controversial situations, maintaining employment and reputation can form a cloud in the view of judgement and hinder the ability to focus on the duties as an educator.

Presiding over a legislative position places the future and education of millions of students in the palm of an official's hand. In the case of creation in the classroom, I would vote to approve the subject in student's curriculum through educational standards. Teaching a highly debated controversy compels students to implement logic and reasoning to develop their own opinion. Students are expected to learn and understand the theory of evolution/creation, not coerced into agreement (Debatepedia, 2011). Including both theories in curricula allows students to use life skills, for example problem solving, decision making, logical thinking, to establish their own beliefs. From a governmental position, I would vote to exclude creation in science education classes. Educating public school students on a religious theory has been deduced as unconstitutional. Supreme Court cases, including Selman v. Cobb County: The Textbook Disclaimer Case, LeVake v. Independent School District #656, and Epperson v. Arkansas, have disputed teaching creation or excluding evolution oppose the Establishment Clause. The clause "prohibits the government from making any law respecting an establishment of religion . . . government actions that unduly favors one religion over another" (Cornell University, 2010).

The theory of evolution continues to be widely accepted throughout the scientific community. It's presence is found in science curricula across the nations and is known and understood by millions of students. Because of this knowledge and widespread understanding, the concept of evolution should continue to remain in the science classroom. The many aspects of evolution, i.e. Darwinism, natural selection, population genetics, etc. reside in science books as one option to the establishment of the planet and its inhabitants. Previously, such as in the 2002 Textbook Disclaimer Case, inserts regarding the teaching of evolution have been placed in educational textbooks, quoting, for example, "Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered" (NCSE, 2011). This continues to be one solution for textbook companies to avoid further controversy and criticism. Other options include 1. Including a secular explanation of creation and 2. excluding both evolution and creation from their text and informing teachers they can include the subjects in their curricula if desired or provide information for individual studies on the theories.

Two Supreme Court Cases, McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education (1982) and Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) are widely used to support ensuing cases. In both cases it was resolved that including creation or excluding evolution violated the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution; for example, Arkansas' "balanced treatment" statute which required public schools to give balanced treatment to 'creation-science' and 'evolution-science' (NCSE, 2008). This act, as well as Louisiana's Creationism Act, "impremissibly endorsed a particular religious viewpoint" (NCSE, 2008). While the foundation of our nation continues to falter and waver, the enduring debate of science and religion will continue. Until when?






Cornell University Legal Information Institute. (19 August 2010). Establishment Clause. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/establishment_clause

Debatepedia. (10 July 2011). Creationism vs Evolution in Schools. Retrieved from http://dbp.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Creationism_vs_evolution_in_schools

Morris, H. (1975). Introducing Creationism into Public Schools. Retrieved from http://www.icr.org/article/66/

NCSE (17 October 2008). McLearn v. Arkansas. Retrieved from http://ncse.com/creationism/legal/mclean-v-arkansas

NCSE (17 October 2008). Edwards v. Aguillard. Retrieved from http://ncse.com/creationism/legal/edwards-v-aguillard

National Center for Science Education (NCSE). (26 April 2011). Selman v. Cobb County: The Textbook Disclaimer Case. Retrieved from
http://ncse.com/creationism/legal/selman-v-cobb-county-textbook-disclaimer-case-0

Morgan, this is an excellent post! I really liked your options that you wrote for Sandra Maxwell. Especially the one where she taught creationism voluntarily to students who are interested. My only question is, would this be an after school activity? If this were to be an after school activity, would it be at school? If it were not to be in the school, would it be something done in a church, or at a local building (like how youth group is held at the MACA today?) I only ask this because, students in our school tried to have a bible study (at school), and were not allowed to do so. In this case, who would the teacher ask to allow them to do this? If creationism is not allowed to be taught in schools today, would this be allowed to be taught in the premises?

According to the Equal Access Access Act of 1984 (20 U.S.C. 4071-74) "Equal Access religious clubs must be student initiated and student led. The school may assign it's faculty to attend meetings for liability purposes, but school faculty may not engage in the club activities. the same rules apply for all religious clubs, Christian and non-Christian (First Freedom Center). So if this was the case, could the teacher actually volunteer to teach students creationism?

Another thing that I liked about your post, was when you mentioned how teaching both evolution and creationism in schools would allow students to use life skills. I love that you mentioned that because that was not something that I thought of before. Some students are not exposed to creationism. Maybe if they were exposed to it more (outside of the family), they can then decide where they fall. Even though a lot of people know about creationism, some children live their lives not going more in depth into the background of it all. Some are taught to go against it. So this would help establish their own ideas, which (especially in high school), is something that students need to learn how to do.

One last thing that popped out at me in your post, was when you talked about how evolution is a theory that millions of students learn and understand. This poses a question. If millions of students already learned about evolution, and already understand it, would it be harmful or helpful to them to learn of something that contradicts what they already learned?

Overall, this was a really great post. Everything was well written and the extensive research really helped argue your main points. Great job Morgan, I give two thumbs up!

Resources:

First Freedom Center. (n.d.). The Establishment Clause (Teacher's Rights).

Retrieved January 29, 2013, from First Freedom.org: http://www.firstfreedom.org/education/CRC-FAQ.html

Clairice, those are some important questions. In regards to type of activity, the topic of creation could be considered an elective class, being taught only on certain days throughout the semester. It could also be taught as an extracurricular subject, after school dismissal. If teaching a secular form of creation, or the idea that a supreme being created the universe, no indication of a specific religion would be imposed upon the students. Ultimately, the decision to incorporate creation in the classroom would be dependent upon the Department of Education and the Board of Directors in specific districts. These groups of educators, administrators, parents, etc. have been established to sanction and regulate the education and subject areas students are exposed to.

To continue about students previously learning and understanding the theory of evolution, exposing them to opposing theories allows them to use logical and critical thinking to establish their own beliefs. The theory of evolution is specifically that: a theory. Just like in many other subject areas, there are multiple ways to perceive a certain topic; Which way should the sentence be written? Is it easier to solve this math problem using this method or an opposing method? What is the connotation of this paragraph? All of these are examples of how students are utilizing decision making to establish this own system of reason and belief.

Thank you for the positive comments!