OPINION:
It’s past time for the American public to push back against the indoctrination that has taken over the education system in many parts of our nation. Parental rights demand a choice be given to parents when the topic being taught directly impacts the religious values and truths they have instilled in their child.
This is clearly the case with mandatory sex education classes in our K-12 public education system but it also should be a discussion in other areas of education. The teaching and indoctrination of Darwinian evolution as the undisputed, scientifically agreed upon way that man got here on Earth is ripe for challenge as well.
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Darwinism, of course, is a theory of biological evolution stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. It claims that evolution is “the result of an unguided, unplanned process,” as a group of prominent scientists declared several years ago.
Since the Scopes Monkey Trial nearly a century ago, most school districts in America have not questioned whether Darwinism should be taught uncritically to our children. Yet, the science of man’s origins has continued to improve to the point that over 1,000 PhD scientists have signed a list expressing they are “skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”
Ten states follow these experts’ advice to require or permit teachers to critique modern neo-Darwinian views as the only possible explanation for humanity’s appearance on Earth. Yet evolution is still taught to many of our school children as an undisputed fact. This is both bad science and bad teaching.
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Some Darwinists will argue that the theory of evolution is a scientific gospel. There is no other explanation. Other “theories” are pejoratively branded as disguised theology masquerading as science or wild speculation with no basis in fact. This arrogance says they’re right, everybody else is wrong and there is no debate to be had. Refusing to engage is a good way to not risk being proven wrong.
Yet Darwinism is dying, and the public education system continues to prop it up in the classroom. His believers hold out hope that if they can delay long enough, they can outlast everyone else.
German theoretical physicist Max Planck outlined this approach when he wrote that “a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die….” This is often explained as “science advances one funeral at a time.” The dirge for Darwinism is being played, even now, in conservative and liberal circles, but not in our public schools.
It’s time to put the teaching of this theory up for parental review and choice. But we don’t because what else would we teach that has the potency to explain away God?
Let’s objectively teach both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of Darwinism. And let’s have the humility to admit we don’t know for sure how life’s grand diversity arose. At least offer this option to parents who view how we got here as a key part of their faith.
This provides an honest answer to a critical question of human existence. It will help students improve their scientific knowledge and critical thinking skills. It also would help re-establish some trust between parents and schools that the school is a trusted partner with the parents in raising their children, not a competitor for their souls. The parents are the deciders on what is best for the child, not the government-run school, particularly when it comes to matters of faith or foundational human questions like “Where did we come from?”
Confidence in public schools is in crisis, but it can be improved if the schools took a less indoctrinating role and acted more in a supporting role to the parents and community they serve. Good schools that will survive and thrive will be those who listen to parents and work with them to meet the needs of their children. Teaching evolution objectively will also inform students about the best science available, and make them better scientific thinkers.
“I care more for my children than the government does,” former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm is reported to have once said. A public school official challenged him on this statement, saying he cared just as much for Sen. Gramm’s children as he did. To which the Texas Republican responded, “Then what are their names?” Of course, the school administrator had no response.
Schools are no substitute for families. Let’s start building back trust in our public schools by respecting the role of parents and their desires for truth and good science education, not indoctrination. If schools are going to require Darwinism to be taught, let’s give parents the right to opt for the scientific challenges to Darwinism to also be a part of their child’s education.
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Sam Brownback is a former U.S. senator and governor of Kansas. He served as the United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom from 2018 to 2021 and chairs the National Council for Religious Freedom. He is also a Senior Fellow at Global Christian Relief.
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