I haven't been taught about Evolution at school. Am I the only one?

Question

I went to a Catholic school. They gave us a brief introduction about evolution in the History and Biology class, but we didn't study it in depth . But then again I did humanities, and not science. Is Evolution taught at school?

I graduated from high school 4 years ago.

Answer 1

it was barely covered while I was in high school (i DO live in alabama). college changed that, thankfully

Answer 2

You can "believe" anything you want to, including that evolution is a "religion." However, believing something doesn't make it true. I neither believe nor disbelieve in anything. I take everything as conditionally true or conditionally untrue based on the evidence and arguments for or against. One of the primary differences between evolution and religion is that the former requires only the natural world, whereas the latter requires a whole supernatural realm of God and Satan, demons and angels, djinns and afreets, and whatever other spirits a particular religion chooses to populate that realm with. In a private and/or parochial school, I have no problem with religion being taught. I attend a private Catholic college, and although I am not a believer, I have no problem with the religion courses (two) that I am required to take. However, that toleration ends when it comes to public schools, that are paid for with taxpayer dollars, and which students must attend without choice, and regardless of their religious or spiritual beliefs. Further, while it may be true that most of the Founding Fathers were Christians (although many of the most prominent were not), this country was in no sense founded on the Christian religion. That is not speculation, but is clearly enunuciated in documents such as the Treaty of Tripoli (I'll leave it to you to look that up). The concept of "freedom of religion" means not only the freedom to practice your religion, but the freedom from having some other religion forced upon you. This would be exactly the case in the scenario you describe, with public schools teaching classes on Christianity. This would be tantamount to an establishment of religion, which is expressly forbidden by the First Amendment to the Constitution. I know you think that evolution is somehow a "religion," but it is not so by any normal definition of that word. It takes more than "believing in" something to qualify it as a religion. And besides, as I have already noted, accepting the reality of evolution does not require belief.

Answer 3

Yes it seems you might be. My sisters went to private Catholic girl's schools in the 50's - 70's and learned it there. In my province of Alberta there is the regular and Catholic school systems and evolution is taught there. The Vatican since 1950 has said:

In his Encyclical Humani generis (1950), my predecessor Pius XII had already stated that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith about man and his vocation, on condition that one did not lose sight of several indisputable points (cf. AAS 42 [1950], pp. 575-576).

We were all educated quite a lot on evolution; perhaps your particular school fell through the cracks.

For trivia's sake:

In short it is taught in Catholic high schools and universities. One great paleontologist was Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, May 1, 1881 – April 10, 1955) was a French Jesuit priest trained as a paleontologist and a philosopher, and was present at the discovery of Peking Man. Teilhard conceived such ideas as the Omega Point and the Noosphere.

Michael

Answer 4

I went to public school and we never were 'taught' evolution. They really didn't touch on the subject too much. They taught us relevant facts, talked about neanderthals and stuff, but they never said "We are teaching evolution, this is the right thing, your beliefs if different are wrong". I say teach the facts, learn about the literary significance of the bible in English class if your gonna go there.

Answer 5

My people parish for lack of knowledge.... Evolution is still taught in high schools. I do not beleive we evolved from Monkeys but it helps to know what evolution is when challenged in a conversation with another who does vs What the bible says. Check it out in your local library or online theres is lots of info. God Bless.

Answer 6

I went to Catholic school. I recall learning about animals adapting to their environments-a central element of evolution. But, no, I don't recall them getting into the subject, for or against, with any depth.

Answer 7

At most schools, yes, but probably at fewer parochial than public schools. Since evolution is THE key concept of biology, any school that is not teaching it is cheating its students.

Answer 8

Well in my state it is a standard that is required to be covered and if it isn't the school could get shut down by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Answer 9

If they only taught u what was factual about it, Im surprised to you stayed on it for as long as you did.

Evolutionary theory as taught in public schools is merely atheistic philsophy. They dont bother to teach how or why its "true", just that it is. And notice NO alternative to it is allowed.

Answer 10

In public schools, it is the accepted cirriculum as part of Biology/science and it is taught as "truth" not theory.

Answer 11

No, sadly in a lot of public schools, including mine, the issue is skirted to avoid controversy.