No subject

[John Grehan]

Invitation by Peter Rauch to comment on the new National Academy of Science
publication
on teaching evolution.

My comment is that it reads as a garbelled complicated series of assertions
and inferences. It would
do nothing to convince me that evolution qualifies as a science. There is a
heavy emphasis on
indoctrination about particular theories of how evolution takes place (e.g.
natural selection),
and far less on evolution as a scientific methodology (compare with the
emphasis on method
in chemistry or physics).

As far as I am able to discern, evolution is generally taught as a doctrine
which focuses on the
assertion that certain things are true, and as such, is a mirror image to
the Creationists who apply
the same strategy.

I realize my view is a minority (perhaps of one), but it is there
nonetheless. With the way
evolution is taught, I'm hardly surprised that teachers stay away from it.
I wouldn't blame
them in the slightest.

John Grehan