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Jan. 20, 2005 I was reading an article in the New York Times today that made me want to address the seemingly growing issue of whether or not intelligent design should be taught in public schools. Intelligent design generally follows the same basic idea as evolution does, that species changed gradually over millions of years to become what they are today (in a nutshell), with one BIG difference. Intelligent design argues that evolution is being controlled by an "omniscient being," or in other words a God. This idea has sparked a debate over whether intelligent design is legitimate science, or simply religion in disguise. To be fair, a look at both sides of the argument seems proper. Intelligent design does present many scientific facts explained in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. However, it does not present any scientific evidence as to why evolution would be directed by God. Again, remember that the idea of a supreme deity cannot be proven or disproven, so one arguing for the side of intelligent design MUST deal with that issue, otherwise, it has no grounds in a public school. The argument against intelligent design is essentially stated above. Another argument used against the idea of intelligent design is that it would be unfair to those that do not believe in God. True, it is not fair to them, but is it not also unfair to teach children who believe in God the idea of evolution? Telling them that Bible, the word of God, is wrong? That's an issue that anti-intelligent designers need to address. The main difference between intelligent design and evolution is that one is a theory, whereas the other is not. Evolution is a theory, because it has stood up to numerous experiments without any SCIENTIFIC evidence proving it wrong. Intelligent design can be partially proven, however, one runs into the problem of proving the existence of a deity. Therefore, you cannot teach religion in schools, because you have no way of teaching it. Maybe religion is wrong. Of course, evolution could possibly be wrong, however, we have found evidence to support it, and therefore may teach it in schools, since it is not a guess. That is why you cannot teach creationism or intelligent design in public schools. Following with the idea of fact vs. belief, I would also like to address the idea that evolution is some crackpot idea that Darwin made up as a mere speculation. In Atlanta, a school placed stickers in all of it's science books that evolution was "a theory, not a fact" (Although they were recently removed). I find that to be very ignorant. The proper definition of a theory is that it has been proven by multiple experiments without ANY EVIDENCE TO DISPROVE IT. That applies to the THEORY of gravity, the atomic THEORY, and so on. Funny, how no one questions those theories. Evolution is no different from them, and should not be treated differently just because it conflicts with the Bible. Now I understand that people want to teach these ideas to their children, since many believe very strongly in their religion. I'm not trying to prove them wrong. I have no wish to do so. However, I do not want to be taught something that has no scientific backing. The job of public schools is to teach us facts, not speculation (Again, I assert that this does not disprove anyone's religion in any way). That is why I feel that intelligent design... ------------ About the author: Jack Lepiarz is a Junior at Madison High School in Madison, New Jersey. Now 16 years old, he has been writing avidly for the past 5 years and has a completed novel (but unpublished), Spencer. He currently trades between two houses in his town, spending time living with both of his divorced parents. Email: Jackwuzhere42@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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