Let students judge for themselves
Your Aug. 12 editorial rightly warns that vouchers might lead to teaching creationism in private schools. But the debate about teaching evolution is much broader.
Most science curricula present Darwin’s theory as the only credible idea. Yet many scientists feel that living organisms are too complex to have arisen by random mutations and natural selection. Dozens of scientific articles in the fields of paleontology, microbiology, biochemistry, probability theory, information theory and scientific inference discuss the flaws and weaknesses in the basic Darwinian ideas. Over 800 scientists have expressed skepticism about Darwinian evolution in http://www.dissentfromdarwin.org.
A better approach is to present both Darwin’s theory and opposing evidence, and let students evaluate both arguments and reach their own conclusions. An excellent textbook that takes this approach is Exploe Evolution — The Arguments For and Against Neo-Darwinism.
Teaching students that good science is based on questioning existing theories helps them understand how science has progressed successfully over the centuries through the challenges of Galileo, Descartes, Newton and other founders of modern science.
Cecil R. Phillips
management consultant
Baton Rouge