Ok, I think I'm ready to try this again.  Are we educating or indoctrinating our children?

    In a previous blog I told you of a discussion I had with my daughters science teacher.  The end result of the conversation was that Evolution had to be taught as fact in our public schools and Intellegent Design (Creation) could not be presented even as theory.   Now, while this seems to be a blog arguing these two points, it is not.  I am more concerned about the final result if we do not allow this debate to continue in our schools.
     The primary purpose if a school, I believe, is to educate our children.  While I firmly believe that the responsibility of education falls on us as parents it is the schools to whom we have delegated this task.  I have in essence "employed" the schools to do a job that I am not equiped to do.  That makes me the "employer" and the school the "employee".  Stick this little nugget in your pocket, we'll come back to it.
    Education is more that just teaching facts.  A good education gives the student the ability to think critically.  One of the things I look for when I have a new firefighter assigned to my crew is the ability to think and reason through a problem.  I want to know if he is just full of facts that he learned in the Academy or if he can  use those facts to solve problems.  I want to know if he has the ability to adapt what he knows to what is happening around him in the real world.  I want to same result from the education my children get.   I want them to be able to apply the skills they learned in school to the real world.  I want them to be able to think and reason.
     Where am I going with all this?  Well consider these words " We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created  equal..... endowed by thier Creator...".   These words offer no proof of Creation but they do offer proof of a core belief common among the men who signed our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.  The very documents that formed the foundation that this Nation was built upon.  Now,  the argument here is not just that these men believed in Creation but they believed that they were subject to a moral standard beyond their own.  Regardless of whether they were " Christians" or not, they adhered to the idea that man was subject to God and must govern himself according to the moral precepts layed out in Scripture.  The idea that each man would one day give account to God for his own life and that they would also be held accountable for the government they established in an infant nation.   They believed that the laws of this Nation must be established on an unchanging standard of right and wrong.  That standard is the Bible.

    Now, consider this.   What if we are just a spectacular result of some cosmic accident.  What if we are the result of millions of years of cells dividing, time and time again and adjusting to the changes of the environment.  If we adhere to this line of thought then we must believe that, in general, evolutionary change is always for the better.  Meaning, that while there are infact abnormalities, evolution will always result in a better outcome.  We needed to breathe so we developed lungs, we needed to walk so we grew legs.  Evolutionary change is always for the better.
    If change is always for the better then it must be accepted that as man continues to change and  becomes more self aware then his moral awareness must also improve.  This means that our understanding of morality, or right -vs- wrong must also improve for the better.   This is where the danger to our Constitution exists.  If man is ever improving in intellect and understanding of morality then it must be considered that what was moral or right over 200 years ago can no longer be relevant for today.  Therefore, our Constitution is noting more than a historical document of an earlier understanding of right and wrong which must give way to a new understanding.  An understanding which in fact must replace the idea that God has anything to do with who we are as individuals or as a Nation.  We must therefore rewrite our Constitution to reflect our new morality, or understanding of right and wrong.  We must also enact laws that coincide with our improved awareness of right and wrong.  There is no absolute standard for morality.  In fact morality changes as times change. ( anybody remember World War II ?) This is why the debate has to continue.
    The theory of evolution is being taught as FACT in our schools today.  There is no discussion, there is no debate, as far as our State BOE is concerned we are simply a wonderful accident and we are becoming more self aware as time goes on.   When an idea that has as much scientific evidence against it as for it is taught as fact with no room for debate that is indoctrination not education. It will not be long and  these kids will become the leaders of this nation and in many cases the only moral standard they will have will be what they learned in school.  We are standing with our toes hanging over the moss covered edge of a rain soaked cliff. 
     Remember the little nugget I asked you to keep in your pocket? Pull it out.  Here's the sad part.  It's our fault.  The employer has let the employee decide what the employers children will learn! I'm guilty! In the past I just looked for an R next to the name on the ballot thinking they probably thought like I did.  WRONG!  It's time for us to start firing some employees!