Adam Cohen writes on the subject of
today’s school system or lack of it in his editorial “Are We Sliding Backward
on Teaching Evolution?” His intended audience range from parents who worry
about their children’s education, politicians who regulate laws on our
education system and professors or teachers who decide what is taught in our
schools. Cohen is a former TIME senior writer, former member of the New York
Times editorial board, and teaches at Yale Law School.
He speaks on Tennessee’s recent “monkey
bill” which is now law, and how it strays away from teaching evolution and the
origins of man. He explains how the new law is intervening with how schools
teach science and what is taught. He argues how invalid it is for “part-time
legislators to know best when it comes to teaching the science of evolution.”
He mentions Tennessee’s determined campaign to impose an ideological agenda on
the state’s schools. He brings up recent bills such as the “Don’t say gay” bill
which makes it illegal to teach about homosexuality and another to update the
abstinence-based sex-education curriculum to define holding hands as a “gateway
sexual activity.” He criticizes these methods to change the education system as
a “solution in search of a nonexistent problem.” Stating that the schools are
not teaching enough education to begin with, further pointing out how
irrational these political decisions are. He defends his statement with how the
president of the Tennessee Association of Science Teachers
even said herself that Tennessee teachers were avoiding teaching the origins of
life. Dishing out even more evidence of these irritable decisions, he points
out how Tennessee ranked dead last in state and local spending on its schools
and how it’s students have lagged in science achievements. In the end he
suggests that if state legislators want to give their young people a fighting
chance, they should embark on a campaign that encourages science education such
as one provoked in the 1950’s in the event of the space race. He ends his argument
on these changes to the education system as a costly distraction and illogical
way to improve our education system.
I agree with him on his overall point. I
believe that politics should intervene with the education system if there is
improvement or revision is needed, but to force it by the hands of “part-time”
politicians who have no credibility on these issues while ignoring the views of
school boards and education administrators is a wrong way to do it.
