<<That being said, the argument can be made that evolution should be taught
because if a student has any interest in biology, he better understand that
the great majority of biologists believe that evolution, common descent,
and some flavor of Darwinism is the explanation of the diversity of life on
earth. If you want to communicate effectively with them, you need to know
that this is how they think.
>>
I like your phrase, "some flavor of Darwinism". It does come in many flavors,
doesn't it.
You said, "the great majority of biologists believe that...evolution. . .some
flavor of Darwinism is the explanation of the diversity of life on earth."
Diversity can be explained pretty well by natural selection. But it is not
the only problem. Another one is that life on earth is _organized_ in a
hierarchical fashion. The organized hierarchy is much more difficult to
explain in Darwinian terms, because it was built from the top down, not from
the bottom up as Darwin predicted.
I think Al would agree with your general thrust. He simply said that
evolution should be taught conditionally. His conclusion was
"To return to our original question then: should Creationism be taught in the
public schools? Should evolution? The answer is in each case the same: no,
neither should be taught unconditionally; but yes, each should be taught
conditionally.".
Bob