It must be large differences in curriculum. I mean, I'm know American biology textbooks as quite good (definitely better than those in this country - if I could I would use a British or American book instead in class).
But teaching about evolution is a core thing here, at least for 16-18 year olds. I mean, it underlies so much of the course, from population ecology to the history of life on Earth (that said, the Plan does not specifically say "evolution", it says "scientific theories about the origins and development of life" or something like that). And it is virtually impossible to become a biology teacher without a serious amount of evolution-related points taken. Not to mention becoming a geography teacher - my other subject - and make sense of half the studies if one believes the Earth was created 6000 years ago.
I agree with ID being some sort of emergency measure. Most of what I've seen of ID is just good old creationism where the word "God" is removed. Still, I think it is a bit worrisome if the US today still has this controversy. One would have expected the proponents had died long ago, but I guess in some ways the United States is more conservative and it might be yet another example of The Great Division of Western Civilization, sort of.
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Date: 2005-08-03 05:23 am (UTC)But teaching about evolution is a core thing here, at least for 16-18 year olds. I mean, it underlies so much of the course, from population ecology to the history of life on Earth (that said, the Plan does not specifically say "evolution", it says "scientific theories about the origins and development of life" or something like that). And it is virtually impossible to become a biology teacher without a serious amount of evolution-related points taken. Not to mention becoming a geography teacher - my other subject - and make sense of half the studies if one believes the Earth was created 6000 years ago.
I agree with ID being some sort of emergency measure. Most of what I've seen of ID is just good old creationism where the word "God" is removed. Still, I think it is a bit worrisome if the US today still has this controversy. One would have expected the proponents had died long ago, but I guess in some ways the United States is more conservative and it might be yet another example of The Great Division of Western Civilization, sort of.