Science And Technology Tuesday: Creation Vs. Evolution

In the raucous debate over whether or not the teaching of Intelligent Design has any place in school science classes, we haven't heard anything from the kids. Now we have. In Louisville, Kentucky, a number of students weren't shy about expressing their beliefs on this seemingly never-ending controversy. Here are a few examples:

Tom James IV, 16, sophomore, Kentucky Country Day School: In my biology class, we just started our detailed unit on evolution. He lets us know he'd stake his life on the theory. He acknowledges that there are a fair number of students that don't believe in evolution. He presents the theory and the basis for it, and he lets us make up our own mind about it.

Jake Kerger, 17, senior, St. Xavier High School: We had this discussion in our biology class about the debate. Basically the way it has been taught to us is that there is so much evidence for evolution, why not teach that? I think that's a good thing. We teach evolution, but also acknowledge creationism. In religion classes we'll talk about it sometimes.

Tara Gentile, 16, junior, Scottsburg High School: When I was in biology class my freshman year, we were taught evolution. I think she personally believed in evolution, but I wrote a paper about evidence of creationism and she did allow people to do that -- to explore the other option.

Amanda Young, 15, sophomore, Elizabethtown High School: I took biology last year and the teacher we had just did a general overview. We didn't really touch on creationism. I think some students asked for a debate, but she didn't allow it. We did acknowledge creationism but she didn't teach it.

There is much more to read in the whole thing.

Personally, I just wished that this dispute would be settled one way or the other, once and for all. Period. Those who teach in our science classrooms deserve to know where exactly they stand; all this uncertainty over is not good for educators or for students.

But my guess is that the litigation will continue for many years, possibly even for decades. The only winners will be the lawyers for both sides, who will doubtless continue to earn millions of dollars in legal fees. ------------------------------Contributions for this week's edition of The Carnival Of Education are due tonight. Get submission info here; see our latest education-related entries over there.