Creationism is no longer simply an American battleground in primary and secondary school education; it’s gone global. Raising questions about the nature of government involvement in education, both South Korea and Turkey made news this week in relation to moves against the mainstream scientific community’s support of evolution.
South Korean publishers sidestepped scientific debate altogether by heeding a petition passed on to them by the government. Scientists were not consulted on the validity of any claims in the petition to “delete the ‘error’ of evolution from textbooks to ‘correct’ students’ views of the world,” although the petition reportedly has signatures of both scientists and teachers.
Turkey’s academia hosted its first conference for creationist ideas at Marmara University in Istanbul from May 16-17, titled “Why Does Science Deny Inter-Species Evolution?” The conference highlighted proposed deficiencies in the theory of evolution, bringing some transparency to the debates and combating notions that evolution is supported and acknowledged by universities and the scientific world.
Officially, Turkish schools are directed to teach both sides–creationist and evolutionist. However, teachers enjoy great latitude in the classroom, and Kareem Cankocak, a professor at Istanbul Technical University who supports evolution, aggressively claims that 90% of incoming students either do not believe or do not know about evolutionary principles.
As in the United States, the debate relies more upon undermining evolution than using scientific data to support creation science, continually drawing religion into the fray (Islam in Turkey and Christianity in South Korea). The debate is unlikely to end anytime soon, but education will likely do its best to make the debate honest and transparent rather than circumvent the academic sphere for a purely political one.
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via Creationism Breaking Through Against Evolution in South Korea and Turkey | Open Equal Free.
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