The debate over how to teach the origins of life in the nation's schools has spilled over into America's colleges and universities.
Activists are proposing new ways for teachers to approach the subjects of evolution, creationism and intelligent design in public schools in Alabama, Georgia and Kansas. Intelligent design is the theory that complex biological structures were designed by intelligent beings, not by chance or creationism.
An e-mail survey recently conducted by the National Science Teachers Association showed that 31 percent of participating teachers said they "feel pressured to include creationism, intelligent design or other alternatives to evolution in their science classroom," reported in USA Today. More pressure comes from students than parents, according to the article.
Biology courses at AU deal with the origin of humans in different ways. Evolutionary Mechanisms, a 500-level course, examines species formation, Darwinian and neo-Darwinian theory and the concept of natural selection, as listed in the 2004-2005 edition of the AU Course Catalog.
Dr. Daniel Fong, an associate professor in the AU biology department, said courses like these pay little attention to creationism because there is no time to cover non-scientific issues.
Some general education courses in biology cover the debate among evolution, creationism and other theories. The Case for Evolution, a second-level general education course, presents differences between a scientific discipline and a non-scientific discipline, Fong said.
Fong said professors should point out differences between scientific and non-scientific theories and move on. Addressing ideas like creationism in detail is like talking about "chemical bonds in a philosophy course," he said.
Shebna Garcon, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences and a pre-med major, said she is currently taking General Biology II. She said her professor taught Darwin's theory, but he also mentioned that before Darwin, theories such as creationism were widely accepted.
A movement in Kansas is working to have the board of education revise teaching standards. Dr. Mark Kozubowski, associate professor of biology at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., and evolutionary biologist, said he does not address creationism in science classes because it is a religious issue.
Robin Jackson, professor of science and mathematics at Central Christian College in McPherson, Kan., has a different approach to teaching human origins.
Professors teach facts about evolution and changes within species, but they do not teach changes between species, Jackson said.
"There is no half-man, half-ape," she said.
Jackson said the school does not ignore the topic, but deals with it as a theory. The overall perception of evolution in the U.S. is that it is the change from one species to another, she said. Central Christian does not accept this as fact like many in the country, she added.
"Most colleges... do teach evolution as a fact," she said. "We do not."
Dr. David Culver, an AU professor in the biology department, said biology majors here do not deal with creationism.
According to Culver, he said he doesn't care what people believe in his classes, but he cares what they answer on exams.
"[Evolution is] a fact as much as the law of gravity is a fact," and that is how AU professors teach it, Culver said.
Some "soft creationists" may believe evolution can occur within a species, but Culver said giving any credence to creationism is incorrect because it is not scientific.
Religious groups take different sides on the issue. The Methodist church accepts science as a method to discover new things, said Mark Schaefer, the United Methodist chaplain at AU.
Most Methodists approach science moderately, but there can be extremists on both sides, he said.
Rabbi Kenneth Cole, Jewish chaplain at AU, said most Jews accept evolution and do not interpret the biblical account of creation historically.
Most Jews believe the Bible shows the hierarchy of creation, but not evolution, Cole said. Even though they accept science, Jews still believe in the "undeniable fact of God as author of the universe," he said.
Some Orthodox Jews believe the world was created in six days because no one knows how long days were thousands of years ago, Cole said. Taylor Mach, a junior in the School of Communication, is taking Great Experiments in Biology this semester.
Her professor said evolution should not be thought of as only a theory because there is factual evidence behind it, Mach said.
Creationism is not taught in her class, she said.
She said in an e-mail that her professor was upset about the Kansas situation because he said the decision to teach evolution should be made by scientists, not politicians.
