The problem with "teaching the controversy"

So what's wrong with bringing up the "controversy?" Why not introduce other points of view, or present the other side(s) of the story?

Indeed, Kaplinsky notes that creationism is on the decline, and is in retreat everywhere. Its apparent popularity is due to aggressive promotion efforts by a small group of backers.

Well, for one thing, those backers are aggressive. The decline of creationism and ID/IOT pseudoscience is the result of equally aggressive work by advocates of real science. But even more broadly...

t is useful to understand that the most active promoters of creationism are Christian fundamentalists. But that should not blind us to the wider social conditions that are susceptible to sympathising with them. If the threat of fundamentalism is overestimated, the threat of labelling science as 'a theory, not a fact' may be underestimated. <snip>

...continued in full post...

The criticism that evolution is 'just a theory' is an old creationist canard. But today it has acquired a new resonance. The criticism that evolution is just a theory is meant to key into the everyday association of 'theory' with speculation. But when science is dismissed today it is likely to be replaced by an eccentric personal prejudice. Whether that happens to be an old-style religion or a new-style diet fad is less important than today's unprecedented elevation of conspiracy theory and rumour-mongering over expert knowledge. Liberals who bemoan influence of Christian fundamentalism often point to the popularity of the Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. But at least as indicative of today's climate is the runaway success of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, whose plot is premised on a 2000-year cover up by the Catholic Church of Christ's true message, designed to repress women and the free expression of sexuality. <snip> It is suspicion of all groups who claim authority rather than excessive respect for religion that drives hostility to science. As Thomas Frank perceptively points out in his book What's the Matter with America?, 'The real subject of the conservative anti-evolution literature is the "experts" on the other side of the battlefield and, more important, their expertise. "Should we 'leave it to the experts?'' asks the Kansas Tornado. Obviously we should not.' <snip> Frank draws attention to the way that the Republicans have associated themselves with the politics of anti-elitism. But he misses the way that the theme of anti-intellectualism on the American right has drawn vigour from the critique of expertise developed since the 1960s by their opponents in the culture wars. It was radicals who pioneered the idea that children should educate the teachers, that doctors were no more expert than their patients, and that claims to expertise generally were little more than an excuse to assert power by marginalising the voice of the victim. In this picture scientists are not disinterested investigators of the truth so much as spin doctors for their paymasters in business or government. It is the coming together of these two strands from left and right that represents the real danger for science.

And indeed, one of the major themes in Starhawk's book, Dreaming the Dark is that of "power with" instead of "power over".

Another reason for the popularity of creationism is bad teaching.

One creationist, writing to the Columbus Dispatch during the 2004 controversy in Ohio, showed that he had mastered the jargon of contemporary dumbing down: 'if Ohio's economy is going to be the thinking economy of the future, it is imperative that critical thinking skills are a fundamental part of the overall skills that must be taught to our children.' Opponents of creationism are likely to reply that to accept intelligent design means to be very uncritical indeed. But that is to miss the point. 'Critical thinking skills' are part of the emptying-out of education that makes room for creationism. 'Critical thinking skills' are now an accepted part of the curriculum, yet in practice the term is used to dignify rather ordinary exercises. Critical thinking may be the outcome of a good education. But because critical thinking requires the thinker to be become independent, it is not something that can be taught as part of a curriculum. It certainly cannot be reduced to a 'skill'.

Indeed, it seems the effect of teaching "critical teaching skills" is to make students critical of thinking. To be sure, the last thing many teachers, and any administrators want is students who actually think critically. They might turn their skills back on the school itself.

Creationism and intelligent design are symptoms of bad education and bad thinking, but are dangerous because they encourage more bad education and bad thinking. Attacking both at the root are useful.