Can't we just get a little bit of balance here? WTF?
It would be amazing if we could simply acknowledge that there are LOTS of different scientific and non-scientific ways of looking at creation. Scientific theories are proven and disproven all the time; I don't think it hurts to tell children that there are many theories and let them decide for themselves. I do think that public schools should spend more time on the more scientific theories since it is a 'science' class though and 'science' should be about hard facts rather than abstracts. Abstracts have their place in other arenas.
It would be so nice if we could discuss religion as it relates to the structure of society as we know it. I'm not a member of any organized religion, but most of the big religions have a profound impact on how society is organized. The difficult part would be balancing what is taught, but then - there is currently not a great balance in teaching. I think about how the history textbooks are set up and it makes me want to cry. I'd like to get back into teaching history eventually, and I think about how impossible it would be to talk about even the founding of the US without discussion religious aspects that influenced various parties.
Balance
It would be amazing if we could simply acknowledge that there are LOTS of different scientific and non-scientific ways of looking at creation. Scientific theories are proven and disproven all the time; I don't think it hurts to tell children that there are many theories and let them decide for themselves. I do think that public schools should spend more time on the more scientific theories since it is a 'science' class though and 'science' should be about hard facts rather than abstracts. Abstracts have their place in other arenas.
It would be so nice if we could discuss religion as it relates to the structure of society as we know it. I'm not a member of any organized religion, but most of the big religions have a profound impact on how society is organized. The difficult part would be balancing what is taught, but then - there is currently not a great balance in teaching. I think about how the history textbooks are set up and it makes me want to cry. I'd like to get back into teaching history eventually, and I think about how impossible it would be to talk about even the founding of the US without discussion religious aspects that influenced various parties.
Okay, I'm done ranting for now...