Intelligent Design, Evolution, Whoop-de-doo
You know, I just don't understand what all of the fuss is about regarding the mentioning of so-called Intelligent Design theories when discussions about Evolution arise in our nation's schools.Yeah, yeah. I know that Evolution is the one with all the cool fossils to see and that there is no proof when it comes to Intelligent Design. I also know that some scientists feel that without proof and without any means of testing a theory, a theory is considered bunk. However, not so long ago, the best minds in the world were convinced that the earth was flat, so I'm thinking we should be a little more inclusive in our discussions.
I wasn't raised by wolves, you know. I went to count 'em - nine public schools by the time I hit high school. During that time, I had a great number of teachers - some good, some not so good.
But there is a common theme to the vast majority of these so-called educators. They were there, not so much to "educate" but to indoctrinate. Yeah! That's right, I said it. So shoot me!
I was an exceptional student - practically a sponge - I loved to learn so much. It wasn't too long, however, before I started to notice that my father wasn't particularly pleased by some of the things I was being taught. And so, he set out to fill in where the teachers had left glaring holes in my education.
To his credit, though, he did not seek to indocrinate me to a particular way of thinking so much as he attempted to tell me the things, "the real truth," that had been omitted from my curriculum.
I will admit that early on this caused me some trouble. In the earliest years of education, they teach you that Lincoln freed the slaves and won the Civil War. It was my father who first informed me that freeing the slaves was not Lincoln's primary aim anymore than slavery was the cause of the conflict. We discussed economics, the vast differences between an Industrialized North and an Agrarian South, and the feeling of Lincoln that the preservation of the Union must be achieved at all costs.
We also discussed, at length, the Constitution, the founding fathers, the Federalist Papers, and the intent and motivations behind the words immortalized in the Constitution. He asked me what I thought and we discussed it. On the other hand, my teachers in school told me what they meant - with very little discussion. Now, I'm no brain surgeon, but I can think for myself. I can figure out what written words mean all by my little lonesome.
So naturally I butted heads more than once with the powers that be. They (okay not all of them) found my additions to the discussion to be disruptive and my views to "unnecessarily muddy the material." Soon enough, I learned to stay quiet about my views in the classroom. However, it wasn't always possible. I didn't want to be dishonest. So, if given an assignment to give a speech, pro or con, on some matter I often found myself on the opposite side of my teacher's views. I'd like to tell you that they only weighed the work and not the views, but I'd be lying.
You try giving a pro-gun rights speech to a liberal teacher who thinks you just grew horns and threatened to vivisect her with an AK-47. It can be tough to scrape by with a B, no matter what you do. They can't see past the viewpoint that they find offensive. Of course, that isn't the way education is supposed to be. It isn't supposed to stifle ideas or viewpoints, but serve as a cradle where such ideas are allowed to flourish and grow. But heaven help the fool who rails against the teacher's belief system.
You scoff, perchance?
Scoff not, ye young lads and lassies! I have proof. I am aware that in my Junior year of High School a good atheist friend of mine whored himself to our bible-thumping English teacher by discussing ad nauseum the biblical references in The Red Badge of Courage. And then? Then he asked about joining her early morning bible study. He wasn't a believer or a recent convert. Quite the contrary. He was quite vocal about how he was working her for an A and a good reference for a scholarship. I think this is tantamount to intellectual dishonesty and speaks to a level of hypocrisy and manipulation that I'm not comfortable with.
You think this is an isolated incident? POSH!
The same guy did it again the next year to another teacher, only in a different way.
In college, things only got worse. Really not a good idea to support the Second Amendment at the University of Illinois, not even if you bring into the argument your own near-rape. Do not, under any circumstances, defend the existence of Chief Illiniwek as the school mascot, lest you be branded a racist. Do not suggest that Ronald Reagan was a good guy, or that Nixon wasn't a bad guy. This is not the party line. You will suffer for it.
So, I say, let our children decide for themselves. Perhaps Intelligent Design can't be proven or disproven now. Perhaps Evolution is the real deal. But what does it hurt to expose our children to the entire debate? Can we not trust them to come to their own conclusions? If I had to sit through 4 weeks in a world history class listening to extended discourse on Islam in the 8th grade, including the 5 tenets of Islam, why can't today's students hear about the beliefs of some Christians as it relates to this issue? Learning about Islam didn't turn me into a Muslim. Being exposed to the idea of Intelligent Design isn't going to throw your child to the lions.
What's the big deal? Can't we trust our kids to decide for themselves?
My dad trusted me, and I turned out okay.
