Truth in Science

Should the teaching of evolution become a compulsory part of the primary school curriculum? The British Humanist Association is very keen that it should. Last week they coordinated a letter stating it is “extraordinary that evolution and natural selection find no place in” the new proposed primary school curriculum. The letter was sent to Secretary of State Ed Balls, and signed by a group of scientists, educators and science popularisers.

The omission of evolution from the draft curriculum is not surprising. The new proposals are deliberately slimmed down in comparison with the current curriculum, in order to give teachers more freedom. The new curriculum is brief, and does not mention such important ideas and key concepts as: gravity, living cells, DNA, acids and alkalis, the periodic table.

Why is the British Humanist Association so concerned that the theory of evolution should be compulsory in Primary Schools? Clearly, they hope that it will advance a humanist agenda.

Richard Dawkins, a signatory on the letter and a vice-president of the British Humanist Association, writes that if asked “Has your knowledge of evolution influenced you in the direction of becoming an atheist?” he “would have to answer yes” (The God Delusion, hdbk. ed., p. 68). He also believes that this has moral consequences: “Absolutist moral discrimination is devastatingly undermined by the fact of evolution.” (The God Delusion, p. 301).

The primary school education system is of great interest to Richard Dawkins, because he knows that young children are “native teleologists” (The God Delusion, p. 181) – that is, they draw a conclusion of intelligent design from their knowledge of the natural world. This makes them “intuitive theists” (The God Delusion, p. 181). Richard Dawkins therefore hopes that by making the teaching of evolution compulsory in primary schools, he will influence children away from their theistic beliefs and towards the belief that God is a delusion.

Richard Dawkins has written vehemently against the “indoctrination” of children in religious faiths. However, unless evolution and natural selection are presented in a fair manner to primary school children, with all view points represented accurately, his proposals could result in just such indoctrination.