Teaching evolution in schools "not a priority"
Teaching evolution in South African schools has always been a no-no.
Apartheid outlawed it, religious leaders condemned it and parents and teachers
feared it. Except for a handful of scientists, nobody understood it.
But now, as the sequencing of the human genome is on the verge of completion,
there is growing pressure from a section of the scientific community to include
evolution in the school curriculum.
This was clearly apparent in a discussion on during The Conference on the
Social, Ethical, Legal, Educational, Bio-Medical and Bio-Technological
Implications of the Human Genome Project, hosted by the African Genome
Initiative held at Spier, near Stellenbosch during March.
Curriculum reform in South Africa was well under way the delegates were told.
There were problems but the intention was still to bring science education to
everyone.
Eventually it was Professor Michael Cherry who tossed the match into the fuel
tank by asking Malcolm Bowie, life sciences curriculum designer for the National
Education Department, when, exactly, would evolution be included in the school
syllabus. "It is after all the unifying theory in biology," he said
emphatically.
Professor Cherry explained that after the government changed in 1994 a group
of scientists approached the then minister of education Professor Sibusiso Bengu
asking him if the education department would consider including evolution in the
syllabus.
"It's not a priority," Bengu told them. Today, nearly ten years
later, those scientists and biology teachers are still waiting for clarity on
how to approach evolution in the classroom.
Bowie was diplomatic in his response to Cherry's question. "There are
many creative ways a teacher can include evolution in the syllabus
already," he said. Was it really necessary to give it a name - especially
one that would inevitably evoke emotive debate?
"We are a country with so many diverse cultural groups, 11 official
languages and many different religions," he said afterwards, "the only
way to get this into the syllabus without causing controversy is for biology
teachers to include it when teaching existing material."
Throughout the day the evolution debate would not be quashed.
"What are we trying to achieve by teaching evolution at high
school?" asked physicist Bernhard Ficker, "Is it not better left to
university?"
Author Pieter Pelser, well known for his staunch creationist views concurred:
"There is nothing in real science that proves evolution," he said,
"I cannot see why it should be introduced at school. It will just cause
confusion. It's a theory, a belief system, that is contrary to 75% of the belief
systems of the people in the country."
Andrew Hunt from the Nuffield Foundation for Curriculum Design in Great
Britain said the teaching of evolution was not contested in British schools.
"Yet it is a subject that poses real problems for some teachers in the
classroom. How does a teacher approach evolution when she is faced with a
classroom of 25 Muslim girls in Leicester - without intruding on their personal
faith?"
There is no question that scientists and educationists that participated in
the discussion on genome research and education are watching developments in the
sequencing of the human genome with great interest. The secrets that it unravels
could well heat up the debate on evolution a good few degrees.
Courtesy of the African Human Genome Initiative
More information: http://www.africagenome.co.za/
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