Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

UPDATE ON STUDY PUBLISHED IN BIOLOGY LETTERS JOURNAL

Quote:

Darwin wrong—again??
(Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution Is True Blog, August 26, 2010)

You may have seen a small flurry of reports this week about a science paper showing that “Darwin was wrong.” The paper wasn’t a creationist or ID screed, however—it was a paper in a good science journal (Biology Letters) by a crack team of paleontologists from the UK and Canada (Sarda Sahney, Michael Benton, and Paul Ferry). What did the paper say? Did it really show that Darwin was wrong? I’m here to answer your questions.

when I teach, you learn.

the environments were rapidly changing around them so they evolved or went extinct.

Competition among species seems to be absent in the fossil record

I'm sure it will be seized upon by the Creationist community as yet another blunt weapon in their war against reason.

But mark, madam, we live amongst
riddles and mysteries -- the most obvious
things, which come in our way, have
dark sides, which the quickest sight can-
not penetrate into ; and even the clearest
and most exalted understandings amongst
us find ourselves puzzled and at a loss in
almost every cranny of nature's works ;
so that this, like a thousand other things,
falls out for us in a way, which tho' we
cannot reason upon it, -- yet we find the
good of it, may it please your reverences
and your worships -- and that's enough
for us.

Bill 44: Parental rights measure welcomed and feared
( By Renata D'aliesio, Calgary Herald, August 29, 2010)

CALGARY -- Calgary mother Maria Doll thinks schools should mainly stick to teaching the three Rs - reading, writing and arithmetic - and leave lessons on religion and sexuality for parents to lead.

With one child nearly finished high school and another about to start Grade 8, there have been times Doll felt educators didn't properly notify her before these sensitive topics were discussed in the classroom.

Doll hopes she won't be kept in the dark again about her children's education, now that parental rights will officially be entrenched in the province's human rights law this week. As of Sept. 1, parents will have strengthened authority to pull their children out of lessons on religion, human sexuality, and sexual orientation.

"When it gets into areas of thorny issues of religious values, I'm the primary educator of my child. I don't want the school to do something that's contrary to my beliefs," explained Doll, who practices the Roman Catholic faith, but elected to enrol her children in the public school system.

"Hopefully, there will be more notifi cation for parents to decide if they want their children to sit in on those particular lessons or not."

While Doll and many other Alberta parents are welcoming this Canadian first, opponents of the controversial measure - which sparked fierce political debates and protests at the legislature last year - worry the new rules will create a chilling effect on teachers and water down classroom talk.

"Discussion in the classroom is very unpredictable. Teachers, at some points, have to steer it one way or another," noted Marilyn Sheptycki, president of the Alberta School Councils' Association, which represents parents.

"We don't want to see teachers having to stifle that good conversation."

Another concern for organizations representing school councils, teachers and school boards is the potential for educators to face human rights complaints. Parents will now be allowed to complain to the province's quasi-judicial Human Rights Commission, if they feel they weren't properly notified about a school lesson.

Heather Welwood, president of the Alberta School Boards Association, hopes this won't be the case. She's urging parents to resolve disputes over notification with their children's teachers and principals.

So is Alberta Education, which crafted guidelines to shepherd strengthened parental rights into the school system.

Schools were already required to advise parents in advance of sex-education classes, giving them the opportunity to opt-out their children.

This school year, that notification and opt-out option will expand to courses that primarily and explicitly deal with religion or sexual orientation.

If parents don't want their children to partake in learning about these three subjects, they can request in writing to have their youngsters excluded from the lesson and connected assignments without academic penalty.

Alberta Education has identified nine courses that will require notifi cation, including studies on religious ethics, parenting and aboriginal spiritual views.

Science courses on evolution will not require notification, but teachers and school boards are required to evaluate other instructional material to determine whether parental rights apply.

"It's about . . . making sure open communication is happening there and parents are aware of what's being taught in the classroom," said Alberta Education spokeswoman Kathy Telfer.

Notification requirements don't apply to incidental or indirect references to religion, sexuality or sexual orientation.

Alberta Teachers' Association representative Dennis Theobald said the union is concerned disputes may arise in grey areas, such as in language arts courses, where a novel may contain subject matter touching on religion or sexuality.

Still, he said teachers are being encouraged to not water down classroom discussions.

"It's important that teachers don't walk into their classrooms in September and find themselves guided by an irrational fear of what this bill might mean," Theobald said.

More than a year after Bill 44 was passed in the legislature, the Liberals and NDP continue to call on the Stelmach government to scrap the addition of parental rights in the Human Rights Act.

Calgary Liberal MLA Harry Chase, the party's education critic and a former teacher, contends the Conservatives have placed a "political club" over teachers' heads. He suspects the new rules will also negatively impact students. To what degree won't be known until the school year unfolds, Chase added.

Calgary mother Doll, however, believes enhanced parental rights will benefit students.

The Canada Family Action organization also supports strengthening parents' role in education, although the group has concerns about broadening the mandate of the Human Rights Commission.

The traditional Christian organization is advocating that parents solve disputes at the school level, instead of launching human rights complaints, said spokesman Nathan Cooper.

"If they want what's best for their child, they're going to have the best possible relationship with the teacher and principal," Cooper said.

"I don't think dragging all three of them before the Human Rights Commission is an ideal scenario by any stretch of the imagination."