Do you believe in the Theory of Evolution?

[Mavorpen]

Do you believe that it ought to be up to the school if they teach gravity? Continental drift? Germ theory?

The point is i have gone to schools in several states and none of them taught evolution.

...You're 13. They usually don't even mention evolution before High School.

[Vortropolis]

I'm wholly serious; this seems worthwhile on brief inspection, at least.

Hmmmm... I'll definitely take a look at it.

[Ifreann]

...What?

What, what?

In the butt?

[Mavorpen]

What, what?

In the butt?

My pants are already off.

[San-Silvacian]

Do you believe in the theory of evolution?I personally feel it's become more than a theory and is solid scientific fact but wanted to see how NS users personally feel about the matter.

Turn on a stove.

Put hand on stove.

Did you learn something there?

ta-da, evolution.

[Vortropolis]

The point is i have gone to schools in several states and none of them taught evolution.

...You're 13. They usually don't even mention evolution before High School.

My post was directed to people that were saying they knew about evolution at 13 years of age or before.

[Veceria]

...You're 13. They usually don't even mention evolution before High School.

My post was directed to people that were saying they knew about evolution at 13 years of age or before.

I first learned/heard about evolution when I was 8/9/10 or so, in during primary school's biology >.>

[Erucia]

Yes, I do.

[Mavorpen]

My post was directed to people that were saying they knew about evolution at 13 years of age or before.

I first learned/heard about evolution when I was 8/9/10 or so, in during primary school's biology >.>

Do you live in America?

[North Misesia]

Aliens did it!

[Samuraikoku]

Fact.

[Veceria]

I first learned/heard about evolution when I was 8/9/10 or so, in during primary school's biology >.>

Do you live in America?

Nope.

[Rudie]

I first learned/heard about evolution when I was 8/9/10 or so, in during primary school's biology >.>

And the same.

[Khadgar]

Aliens did it!
:rofl:

You jest but some people believe that. Raelians, proof that even atheists have creationist nutters.

[Mavorpen]

Do you live in America?

Nope.

Exactly.

[Salandriagado]

I don't think so it's the schools choice if they teach evolution or not.

And if they don't, they are missing something that you absolutely cannot do any kind of modern biology without. That's a fairly major thing to miss out.

The point is i have gone to schools in several states and none of them taught evolution.

I can feel my faith in the US education system draining away.

My post was directed to people that were saying they knew about evolution at 13 years of age or before.

This is because the US is not the world, and from the evidence in this thread, the US education system is lagging behind the rest of the developed world by more than I thought it was.



You may also find this useful if you fancy a quick look at somethign that will correct a few of the mistakes that your educational system has made.



And since you probably missed it, here's my edit on the previous page:

You are a person. You may be 13 years old, but that doesn't stop you being a person, and it certainly doesn't stop you having a functioning mind. Use it. Exercise it. At every opportunity, question everything you hear, everything you know. That does not mean questioning things like "go and tidy your room", it means questioning things that are presented as facts. Look over everything you think you know, everything you've been told, and ask yourself why you know this is true. If you can't answer it, try to find a reason that it's true. If you find a reason and you can understand that reason, then you have learned something. If you find a reason but don't understand it, then file it away mentally under "something to look at when I learn more", and you may well learn a lot whilst doing it (as a simple example here, ask yourself how you know that 1+1=2. You'd be surprised just how deep the rabbit hole goes). If you can't find a reason (and I mean an actual reason why it's true, not a reason why you know it's true - "xyz told me" doesn't count), then go back and ask yourself if it is true or not. It may be that it is, in which case, try to think around the problem, see you could potentially check that it is true, devise an experiment (actual or thought) to find out if it's true, or prove that it is true. It may be that it's false, in which case ask yourself why it's false. Repeat all of the above for the statement "this thing that I thought was true is actually false". It may be that you can't manage it either way, in which case, it is possible that somebody has done it but you couldn't find it (in which case, try asking somebody you know to be knowledgeable about that area where you can find more information on it). It may be that nobody has done it, in which case, file it away under "things that are interesting problems" and look back at it after a while, see if you can't see a way around it. It may, alternatively, be that it is actually impossible to know whether it is true or false, in which case, ask yourself why that's true (though don't expect to get very far on this bit too often - proofs of "we can never really know X" tend to be a bit obscure).

Doing all of that, doing it all the time, is how you learn, and how the human race learns. Simply sitting around believing everything that you are told is true by somebody in authority is not enough. You must learn, above all, that most critical of human abilities: the ability to think.

[Ifreann]

Do you believe in the theory of evolution?I personally feel it's become more than a theory and is solid scientific fact but wanted to see how NS users personally feel about the matter.

Turn on a stove.

Put hand on stove.

Did you learn something there?

ta-da, evolution.

That's not evolution.

[Vortropolis]

Do you live in America?

Nope.

I do that's probably why you learned about it earlier.

[Great Nepal]

...You're 13. They usually don't even mention evolution before High School.

My post was directed to people that were saying they knew about evolution at 13 years of age or before.

I did though... seeing that would be year 8: just a year before start of SLC.

[Hittanryan]

I do not "believe" in evolution, I know it to be true based on evidence. Science is true whether or not you believe in it.

[Northern Dominus]

Some of us live in places with half-decent education systems and were introduced to the concept of evolution before the age of 13...

Okay I'm from Indiana, and a podunk part of it, so. I understood the concept, but it wasn't covered, and we didn't even get into cellular biology until I was 14, and that's only because I took the AP class.

Wait... they actually teach evolution in Indiana? Even the podunk parts? And not in a giggling "oh those silly scientists, we know jebus made the world and everything" way?

...You're 13. They usually don't even mention evolution before High School.

My post was directed to people that were saying they knew about evolution at 13 years of age or before.

Uh, we started learning about evolution in grade school when I was about 10...

[Vortropolis]

I don't think so it's the schools choice if they teach evolution or not.

And if they don't, they are missing something that you absolutely cannot do any kind of modern biology without. That's a fairly major thing to miss out.

The point is i have gone to schools in several states and none of them taught evolution.

I can feel my faith in the US education system draining away.

My post was directed to people that were saying they knew about evolution at 13 years of age or before.

This is because the US is not the world, and from the evidence in this thread, the US education system is lagging behind the rest of the developed world by more than I thought it was.



You may also find this useful if you fancy a quick look at somethign that will correct a few of the mistakes that your educational system has made.



And since you probably missed it, here's my edit on the previous page:

You are a person. You may be 13 years old, but that doesn't stop you being a person, and it certainly doesn't stop you having a functioning mind. Use it. Exercise it. At every opportunity, question everything you hear, everything you know. That does not mean questioning things like "go and tidy your room", it means questioning things that are presented as facts. Look over everything you think you know, everything you've been told, and ask yourself why you know this is true. If you can't answer it, try to find a reason that it's true. If you find a reason and you can understand that reason, then you have learned something. If you find a reason but don't understand it, then file it away mentally under "something to look at when I learn more", and you may well learn a lot whilst doing it (as a simple example here, ask yourself how you know that 1+1=2. You'd be surprised just how deep the rabbit hole goes). If you can't find a reason (and I mean an actual reason why it's true, not a reason why you know it's true - "xyz told me" doesn't count), then go back and ask yourself if it is true or not. It may be that it is, in which case, try to think around the problem, see you could potentially check that it is true, devise an experiment (actual or thought) to find out if it's true, or prove that it is true. It may be that it's false, in which case ask yourself why it's false. Repeat all of the above for the statement "this thing that I thought was true is actually false". It may be that you can't manage it either way, in which case, it is possible that somebody has done it but you couldn't find it (in which case, try asking somebody you know to be knowledgeable about that area where you can find more information on it). It may be that nobody has done it, in which case, file it away under "things that are interesting problems" and look back at it after a while, see if you can't see a way around it. It may, alternatively, be that it is actually impossible to know whether it is true or false, in which case, ask yourself why that's true (though don't expect to get very far on this bit too often - proofs of "we can never really know X" tend to be a bit obscure).

Doing all of that, doing it all the time, is how you learn, and how the human race learns. Simply sitting around believing everything that you are told is true by somebody in authority is not enough. You must learn, above all, that most critical of human abilities: the ability to think.

Thank you for the good advice

[Nadkor]

Some of us live in places with half-decent education systems and were introduced to the concept of evolution before the age of 13...

Really? And did you understand it? I still couldn't use fractions properly when I was 13.

Either I've moved shockingly fast in the last 7 years, or you're misremembering yourself cleverer than you were.

We were taught the very basics of evolution in first year of secondary school, when we would have been 11/12. Could even have been earlier, but that's when I remember it from. As I said - we were given an introduction to the concept, we weren't taught the theory in depth. We also covered things like the periodic table, chemical equations, climate change, etc. broadly, to give us an introduction to them to stand us in good stead for later study.

By the time we would have been 12/13/14 we were doing things like reproduction, cells, newton's laws, calculating the speed of gravity, terminal velocity, electromagnetism, more complicated chemical equations using maths and tallying up electrons and that, etc.

Not in huge depth, we weren't at GCSE or A Level, let alone university. But giving each topic a couple of week's classes and going through the basics of the concepts and ideas methodically and without bringing in loads of maths to confuse pupils.

I don't think the concept of species developing by retaining advantageous inherited traits is particularly difficult to teach to people below the age of 13. Certainly my science teachers managed it.

[Vortropolis]

Okay I'm from Indiana, and a podunk part of it, so. I understood the concept, but it wasn't covered, and we didn't even get into cellular biology until I was 14, and that's only because I took the AP class.

Wait... they actually teach evolution in Indiana? Even the podunk parts? And not in a giggling "oh those silly scientists, we know jebus made the world and everything" way?

My post was directed to people that were saying they knew about evolution at 13 years of age or before.

Uh, we started learning about evolution in grade school when I was about 10...

You live in the U.S?

[Nadkor]

Do you believe that it ought to be up to the school if they teach gravity? Continental drift? Germ theory?

The point is i have gone to schools in several states and none of them taught evolution.

"Several states" would suggest the USA, a country not exactly renowned for its public education standards.