Creation vs Evolution: Keeping Education Back?

Cynthia Cheng

Earlier this week, the New York Times published an article about John Freshwater, a middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio who was not only teaching creationism in class, but branded two kids with a cross.  Yes, that’s right, the man burned crosses on his students.  The board had intended to fire him, but he asked for a hearing instead.  Currently, part of the town is supporting him, while the remaining do not. The hearing is expected to wrap up this week.

Creationism does not belong in a science classroom.  A teacher can teach creation all he/she would like in a philosphy class (which you won’t see in most middle schools, anyway), or at a church’s Sunday school.  To top it off, burning a cross on a child constitutes abuse.  That should have been enough to fire him.  However, that never happened.  Instead, one of the kids who was branded, along with his family, had to move away.  There were enough people in the town supporting the teacher that it was becoming increasingly uncomfortable for the family to continue living there.  Isn’t this sad?

Those who support the teacher are doing children in their town a disservice.  By prohibiting the teaching of evolution, they are holding kids back. They are not allowing kids to explore and learn, which is what kids in middle school are supposed to be doing.  I realize that the town is very religious (there are 30 churches and an evangelical university, according to the Times article), but what is happening is very extreme.  These people are so preoccupied with what they believe is right, that they are not opening their eyes to other views.  It is this mentality that can be very dangerous as it leads one to be ignorant and fearful of anything different.  In fact, this is what leads to war.  In addition, there are people who look at you as a laughing stock.  There’s a reason why people make fun of Sarah Palin and her supporters.

These views seem to be more common in the United States, but rarely in historically and still-culturally Catholic countries like Italy and France.  It may very well have to do with not only how different denominations view education, but more importantly, how Scripture is interpreted.  Catholics generally see the Bible as a spirtual guide to their faith, while Evangelicals take everything at face value.  This is probably why you don’t hear of too many creationism vs. evolution cases in, say, Massachusetts or New Jersey, where a great deal of people are Catholic.  In any case, I hope that the teacher is no longer allowed to teach, and that kids at the school are going to be able to get a well-polished education.  A teacher like Mr. Freshwater will not prepare middle school kids well for any high school science class and is only out there to hurt children – phyisically, mentally and philosophically.

Image © Robert Record/iStockphoto