You may have heard about the fundamentalist Christians in the US attempting to remove evolution from the curriculum, or at least make sure that “Intelligent Design” and other Creationist theories are taught alongside it.
Some States now require a sticker inside any book that mentions evolution. The text of which is:
This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.
Sheesh.
Naturally, there are a good number of right minded people who are up in arms about such ridiculous behaviour. So they’ve created their own set of Textbook disclaimer stickers.
Quite why people would want to change the law so that their children spend time at school being misinformed is beyond me. By all means teach Creationism, Intelligent Design, Christian Science (or whatever they’re calling it this week to avoid calling it God) in RE, but keep it out of science lessons!
Those stickers, and the commentary underneath them make all the points about this issue that I’d make, so I’ll let you go and read them yourself.
Actually, a sticker seems a pretty reasonable compromise. It appears they “are keeping it out science.” It’s not a lesson; it’s a sticker noting that the Theory of Evolution is just that: a theory. Once it’s the Law of Evolution I’m sure the stickers will come off. I’d like to see the sticker also address scientists who believe that life on this planet originated on a planet other than Earth. My point is that there are multiple theories; Evolution is only the most popular. At any rate, I don’t see a problem with a sticker asking students to weigh what they’re taught with a critical eye.