The Texas Board of Education voted last month to maintain its current evolution curriculum, voting down a proposal that challenges the notion that all life descended from a common ancestry. How this had potential to affect Fort Wayne and surrounding communities is through the textbook industry.

Texas has such a large textbook market that many publishers write to Texas’ standards and then market those books around the country.

In Indiana, curriculum directors can supplement curriculum in response to a community’s desires, but all content taught in science classes must pertain to the nature of science, according to the Indiana Department of Education.

Two local high schoolers – one who believes in evolution, one who doesn’t – recently talked about how their respective schools taught the subject and how important it is for students to do research on their own.

Treading lightly

Collin Brophy is a senior at Homestead High School, but he seems to remember his freshman evolution lessons relatively well.

"It was more presented to us as opposed to taught … (the teacher didn’t) say ‘This is right’ or ‘This is wrong,’ " says Brophy, of Fort Wayne. "It was almost like they were afraid of the subject."

Brophy calls his freshman biology teacher one of the best he’s had in high school, but the teacher did tread lightly on the subject, he says.

The class spent about a week and a half on evolution, focusing on Darwin’s theory and how humans evolved into their current form. It was part of a unit about genetics and the building blocks of life, he says.

In the course of the teaching, there was a brief discussion about God’s role.

"Every class is going to have a student who brings up creationism," Brophy says. "The teacher wouldn’t go further than saying, ‘It’s another theory that’s out there.’ As soon as (the student) brought it up, our teacher got serious – probably the most serious I’ve ever seen him."

Brophy didn’t think there was anything wrong with how his teacher handled the topic: He figured he had to be careful to avoid legal ramifications, Brophy says. Instead, he wishes the teacher didn’t have to be so careful or worry so much.

Teachers act like surrogate parents in school, Brophy says, and he wishes they felt comfortable sharing their own thoughts on topics such as evolution or creationism.

Until last Christmas, Brophy says, he considered himself open on the evolution-creationism debate. He hadn’t made up his mind because neither side had managed to convince him.

Then he came across the published works of 20th-century psychologist Julian Jaynes, who wrote that religion is a product of the evolutionary process and a method of survival.

That means Brophy’s beliefs formed from his own research – and that’s how it should be, he says. Students shouldn’t rely on science classes to create their beliefs, he says, and states should stop wasting time and money to mandate that curriculums include creationism or other non-science-based subjects.

"I think it’s extremely sad they feel the need to do that," he says.

Only a theory

When Thomas Humbert’s freshman biology teacher started the lesson on evolution, Humbert had some background on the teacher. Some friends of his attended church with her, so Humbert knew she was a Christian.

Perhaps that knowledge altered his view of the lesson, or maybe he saw something honest: To Humbert, now a junior at Carroll High School, it seemed as though the teacher taught to state standards but made it clear that the concept was only a theory.

Humbert doesn’t believe in evolution. Raised Lutheran – he now considers himself non-denominational – Humbert believes in the biblical account of creation: That God made the world in seven days.

The same year Humbert learned about evolution, he took a world history class that dealt with world religions. He remembers the teacher telling the class, "You don’t have to believe it. You just have to know it."

Humbert thinks that concept should be applied to the science class, too. Ideally, Humbert said, he’d like to see different classes on different theories: an evolution class and a creationism class. He sees the flaws in the plan – hiring more teachers requires more money the district just doesn’t have – but wishes the topic was handled differently.

"I think the best way to understand which (theory) is the best is to present them to all the kids," he says. "In no way do I think we should focus only on one perspective because it’s not realistic. You are going to have challenges (and people who disagree), but that’s how you become stronger in what you believe."

Humbert says he enjoyed the evolution lesson and was excited for it beforehand. Shortly before, he read "The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence that Points toward God" by Lee Strobel. Once an atheist, Strobel started to question the facts of evolution and came to believe that much of evolutionary theory is outdated or incorrect. The information helped solidify Humbert’s belief in creationism.

Through Ben Stein’s "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," a documentary about suppressing discussion of intelligent design, Humbert learned that in France the government doesn’t dictate what can and cannot be taught in schools.

"To me, that seems like democracy at its best," he says. "They get to teach what they want. Here, the government monitoring what teachers teach doesn’t make much sense."

jyouhana@jg.net