Dear Editor:
I am a school board member of Gower SD 62 and am writing in regard to the recent article in The Illinois School Board Journal entitled, “Intelligent design as science: The good, the bad and the ugly” (May/June 2010 edition). I understand that the publication policy of IASB promotes frank and open discussion and that, therefore, material published in the Journal may be controversial. But I challenge the Journal to not allow the policy to lead to the publication of irresponsible material.
The author, Wesley D. Hickey, assistant professor of education leadership at the University of Texas at Tyler, correctly asserts that supernatural explanations for life have no place in the public classroom. I agree that this is a subject for parents to teach in the home according to their personal beliefs. Mr. Hickey goes terribly wrong in the other direction, however, when he props up Darwinism as the uncontroversial natural explanation for life. A few examples of the statements made by Mr. Hickey (with absolutely no citations for support):
“All of this concern with intelligent design in the political community occurs at a time when biologists consider evolution one of the strongest theories in science.”
“Darwin’s research replaced design and has become one of the strongest disciplines in science.”
“A strong understanding of evolutionary theory is not only important for science, but properly taught to understand why we are as we are.”
Beyond a lack of references, there are numerous logical flaws with Mr. Hickey’s assertion that evolution explains the origins of life. Even if evolution is a viable scientific theory, it utterly fails to address what Thomas Aquinas referred to as the “first cause.” Said another way: if humans really did evolve from some primordial soup, who made the primordial soup?”
Another notable flaw is that Mr. Hickey fails to differentiate between inter-species evolution and intra-species evolution. This is a critical distinction: there is very little controversy regarding intra-species evolution (adaptive changes over time within a particular species); but there is much controversy regarding inter-species evolution (conspicuously absent from the record is evidence of “intermediate” fossils supporting the jump from one species to another).
Mr. Hickey strongly warns school boards to avoid the irresponsibility of teaching intelligent design. Perhaps, someone should warn him that teaching an unproven theory (yes, it is still the theory of evolution) as a law is equally irresponsible. Alternatively, perhaps The Illinois School Board Journal should have given equal time to both sides of this controversial issue.
Victor M. Casini
Board member
Gower SD 62
Willowbrook, Illinois
Editor’s note
The Illinois School Board Journal is an open forum for discussion of many controversial topics. The editing process does not require specific sourcing for information as would a peer-reviewed journal.