<p>Hi. I am an Anthro major and my in my theory class, someone asked why they do not teach Anthropology in high school. We think it might be because of evolution. This makes me wonder–why do they have Biology then? Do you/your kids learn about evolution in school or do/did the school system refuse to teach kids this? Do you think that not teaching evolution means that they miss out on valuable scientific information for learning (especially if its an AP level bio class with evolution covered on the AP exam)? Have some of you/your kids never even heard of it until college?</p>
<p>My 10th grader tells me they are learning evolution in biology without the benefit of any alternate theories.</p>
<p>I am in the Northeast, and yes, evolution is covered in both regular and AP biology. Students would be at a tremendous disadvantage if they didn’t have it, in my opinion. Anthropology, on the other hand, does not need to reference evolution…my children all took at least one anthro course in college, and the intro courses didn’t have any evolution in them.</p>
<p>i’m a freshman in college now… and in high school we were taught about evolution in everything from biology to european history, plus many classes in between… then also in world history and european history, we learned histories of religions and their views, it’s hard to understand certain subjects if part of the impact of them is left out</p>
<p>There are lots of college subjects that are not part of the high school curriculum, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics. These tend to be fields that were of more recent creation than history, math, English, etc… Curricula change very slowly.
As Voronwe says, anthropology does not need to reference evolution. There are in fact different branches of biology and their practitioners don’t talk to one another very much. Biological anthropologists probably have more to do with archaeologists and biologists than with social/cultural anthropologists. </p>
<p>In my S’s high school, one of the teachers teaches a course in anthropology. I believe some of the topics covered have to do with ethnic identity, culture, gender, and similar topic. Evolution is covered in biology.</p>
<p>Marite is right: college courses do cover a lot more subjects than you see in high school (ex. English, math, science, history, and foreign language). There are more specific and specialized majors in college - like classics being a subset of history, or foreign languages that high schools just can’t support. Skim through a college catelogue someday and see what types of majors are offered - it certainly goes beyond the basic ones mentioned above.</p>
<p>“they are learning evolution in biology without the benefit of any alternate theories.”</p>
<p>What “alternate theories” do you suppose NJres refers to???</p>
<p>the even more interesting point is the “benefit of alternate theories”</p>
<p>What benefit? there is none, unless someone wants their child to be ignorant</p>
<p>Sorry but there was already a few threads on evolution and some heated debate.</p>
<p>i’m with sempitern - there are no viable “alternate theories”. Not teaching evolution is a grave disservice to students. I went to a Catholic high school, and of course they taught evolution - strict creationism has no factual or even logical basis.</p>
<p>I propose the Taoist alternative: first there was the void, then there were yin and yang, then there were the myriad things. I’m sure that’s not what proponents of alternative theories intend to be taught.</p>
<p>One problem in discussing evolution with the yahooistas is that the word “theory” in the vernacular does not match its meaning in the scientific world. In the vernacular, it’s pretty much akin to “wild-assed guess”; in the scientific world, it means “consistent with in-depth observation.” The simple-minded folks who say “it’s just a theory” aren’t even at square one for discussion.</p>
<p>While not completely proved, I still belive wholeheartedly in evolution. In my opinion, it is the only plausible explanation of life on earth.</p>
<p>the only viable alternative to evolution is creationism and its against the law to bring religion into the classroom so there ARE no viable alternatives njres…</p>
<p>I’m sorry but there is no viable alternative to evolution. Evolution is a scientific theory, based on scientific evidence. Creationism is based in faith, not science. Thus it makes no sense to teach it with evolution, which is taught in science class. Nevermind not bringing religion into schools.</p>
<p>A light-hearted look at this subject: <a href=“The Onion | America's Finest News Source.”>http://www.onion.com/wdyt/index.php?issue=4103</a></p>
<p>TheDad is completely correct in stating that the scientific definition of “theory” is very different than the everyday definition. Saying “evolution is a theory, not a fact” is like saying “gravity is a theory, not a fact.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we live in Kansas, a state which made a strong attempt a few years ago to remove the teaching of evolution from the state standards for science. This would have left the choice of teaching evolution up to the individual districts. After much heated local debate and national recognition of Kansas as perhaps the most ignorant state in the union, Kansas ultimately decided to leave evolution in the standards. Now, though, after the recent state BOE elections, the teaching of evolution has once again become a hot issue here. You’d think they’d have learned something the first time…<em>sigh</em> ~berurah</p>
<p>Berurah - glad you’re back on the board!</p>
<p>twinmom,</p>
<p>Thanks, that means a lot! <em>smile</em> ~berurah</p>
<p>hehe, I live in Kansas too! A writer on my school newspaper staff just put in his calendar article: “Charles Darwin [something about evolution, but I can’t remember what it said]. Coincidentally, Lawrence Public Schools cancels school for Earth’s 5,000th birthday.” I just thought that was cute.</p>
<p>I learned a lot about anthropology in a special seventh grade unit from a curriculum called Project Social Studies, which must have been written in the 1960s. And I learned a lot about most subjects I learned about as a kid (e.g., evolution and theories of the origin of the universe) through independent reading. I really don’t think it is ever possible to be well informed by learning only what is taught in school lessons. One must always look for a reality check and supplement the school sources with other sources.</p>