Theory of Evolution in Schools

Today, there is a great deal of debate regarding the theory of evolution. There are a vast amount of different viewpoints when it comes to the origin of species and it is difficult for society to collectively choose one as the standard. Due to the intense heat surrounding the implications of evolution, many American schools have failed to educate students and as a result many are being deprived of vital information. This lack of information leads to bigotry, poor education, and the negligence of options available. Clearly, the theory of evolution should be taught as a standard across the schools of the United States in order to truly educate students and provide them with the resources needed to make an accurate decision between evolution and creationism.

The theory of evolution is often misunderstood, mostly due to the fact that the large majority of people fail to learn it in school. The first person who truly exposed the theory of evolution was Charles Darwin, a British naturalist. He successfully persuaded the scientific community of the occurrence of evolution, explaining it through natural and sexual selection. In addition, he brought about an interesting perspective that today raises the question of whether evolution pronounces or denounces the thought of an intelligent creator, such as God (Miller).“Evolution is the scientific theory that all life forms today are descended from a single cell, or at most a very few different cells,” and thus is the definition of evolution at its most basic form (Lynn). By knowing only the mere definition, one is able to understand the concept of evolution on a relatively basic scale; unfortunately, countless schools in the United States do not even cover this. The counter to the theory of evolution is known as creationism, the belief that earth’s different kinds of life were created separately by God. Creationism is currently not taught in schools at all due to the fact that it greatly varies in detail and no concrete evidence can support it. Contrarily, the theory of evolution has a colossal amount of evidence that supports it and the only reason that is it considered a theory and not a fact is because it is not able to be reproduced, species evolve over massive amounts of time. “The fact that creation and evolution involve fundamentally different world views has been frankly admitted by some evolutionists,” explains why this topic is so hotly debated and really emphasizes the differences in views (Grish). Darwin’s contributions regarding the theory of evolution had a dramatic effect in virtually every field of science and by not fully educating all of the people of America we are doing ourselves a disservice both on a national and individual scale.

Currently, the theory of evolution is being loosely taught in schools and it is having a dramatic effect on education. The United States when ranked with other developed nations is lagging far behind; part of this is due to the failure of many schools to teach the theory of evolution. There is much evidence that not knowing evolution leads to greater complications:

The scientific community attaches great importance to the theory of evolution. The National Association of Biology Teachers says it’s impossible to provide a rational, coherent, and scientific account of the history and diversity of organisms on earth without including the principles and mechanisms of evolution. (Lynn)

As seen in the example of Biology, evolution ties in many ideas together, it is a link in a long chain, and if that link is absent then the chain is broken apart. “Critics of the U.S. education system seized on the launch [Soviet Union’s Sputnik], saying America’s defeat in the space race was due to poor schooling” (Lynn). The United States must learn from both the past and present and realize such defeats will continue to occur if the public is continued to be deprived of crucial