Should "Intelligent Design” Be taught in Public School?
Intelligence design is a technical program with direct affiliations to philosophy. It denotes that some universal features and of things alive have intelligent explanations rather than unintended courses. Unintended courses here could be biological, for example, natural selection (Thaxton, 1986). This program redefines science in such a crucial way as to arouse mystic justifications. Some critics call it creationism or pseudoscience. Understanding intelligence design can at times confuse one for a religious viewpoint. Although this concept does not acknowledge religious convictions, a scholar can almost certainly attribute it to faith and deistic beliefs. In essence, it tries to provide an explanation for faith and belief in certain elements of existence. It is no doubt, therefore, that it should never be included in the public school syllabus.
Public school biology contains numerous controversial contents like natural selection and evolution. Evolution claims that life changed gradually while natural selection talks of a supernatural order. Both concepts make no attribution to the existence of God. Religious studies fill the gap to mould the learner’s faith in the existence of a god. Inclusion of Intelligent design would create further confusion. This is because, largely, it is ignorance. Intelligent design lacks conclusions to its propositions. This lack of information to certain claims can be a source of controversy among the learners. Additionally, this concept creates a misunderstanding on the nature of God (Dixon, 2008). It acknowledges the scientific side to the existence of things. In the event of lack of explanations, it claims the presence of an intelligent designer. This is hugely controversial since it mentions not the presence of God. Having this contradiction in the curriculum will be chaotic. It is, therefore, unnecessary to have this concept included in public school curriculum. The most appropriate place to have it is the sectarian departments like churches.
References
Dixon, T. (2008)Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction.Oxford University:Oxford .
Thaxton, C. (1986)DNA, Design, and the Origin of life. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
