Turkey Will Stop Teaching Evolution in Secondary Schools

[Sunstone]

Turkey will stop teaching evolution in schools, education ministry says

Turkish schools to stop teaching evolution, official says

Turkey is apparently trying to challenge home-schooling for the lowest standard of education. Please discuss.

 

[Terese]

That is a terrible shame. As a Turkish gal it doesn't speak to me very well.

 

[icehorse]

Another country in a race to 3rd world status?

(Sadly, too much like the U.S.)

 

[DavidFirth]

Turkey will stop teaching evolution in schools, education ministry says

Turkish schools to stop teaching evolution, official says

Turkey is apparently trying to challenge home-schooling for the lowest standard of education. Please discuss.

I actually like the idea. The entire TOE is just a theory. Until the entire TOE can be shown to be true it should not be taught as truth like it is in the USA.

 

[SomeRandom]

I actually like the idea. The entire TOE is just a theory. Until the entire TOE can be shown to be true it should not be taught as truth like it is in the USA.

Scientific Theory not theory. You know like the heliocentric theory. Christ mate, who the hell was your science teacher?

 

[Mindmaster]

I actually like the idea. The entire TOE is just a theory. Until the entire TOE can be shown to be true it should not be taught as truth like it is in the USA.

It's a model/theory and should always be presented as such, similar to relativity and other similar topics (quantum mechanics, etc.). That means it is a model for a behavior, but not the behavior itself - that's to say it seems right, but deviation should be possible. DNA doesn't really make it past 10,000 years, so that is the largest problem in proving "evolution". Then there is the runner up problem - very little modern day examples of this happening in front of our eyes.

Anyway, I'm on board as long as it stuff we can prove (DNA) if it's anything else it's speculation... Right now things are taxonomically grouped based primarily on APPEARANCE. That's not science, that's just guessing.

 

[Nietzsche]

Anyway, I'm on board as long as it stuff we can prove (DNA) if it's anything else it's speculation... Right now things are taxonomically grouped based primarily on APPEARANCE. That's not science, that's just guessing.

Taxonomical grouping is literally a historical relic. We keep it out of inertia and, well, a new system would be extremely difficult to make universal, time-consuming, and only mildly more effective.

It's a model/theory and should always be presented as such, similar to relativity and other similar topics (quantum mechanics, etc.). That means it is a model for a behavior, but not the behavior itself - that's to say it seems right, but deviation should be possible. DNA doesn't really make it past 10,000 years, so that is the largest problem in proving "evolution". Then there is the runner up problem - very little modern day examples of this happening in front of our eyes.

Tell me. What would be the point of this? What would be gained other than giving creationist drivel and their legions of morons a false feeling of victory?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I actually like the idea. The entire TOE is just a theory. Until the entire TOE can be shown to be true it should not be taught as truth like it is in the USA.

Wait...so...you think something should be proven fact before it's taught in a science class????

 

[Stevicus]

Turkey will stop teaching evolution in schools, education ministry says

Turkish schools to stop teaching evolution, official says

Turkey is apparently trying to challenge home-schooling for the lowest standard of education. Please discuss.

Their justification seems rather odd:

“We have excluded controversial subjects for students at an age unable yet to understand the issues’ scientific background,” Mr Durmus said.

“As the students at ninth grade are not endowed with antecedents to discuss the ‘Origin of Life and Evolution’ section in biology classes, this section will be delayed until undergraduate study.”

They're saying it's too controversial and that the students are too young to understand it. But I don't see anything wrong with teaching it on a basic and elementary level - something easier for younger students to understand, while the more advanced concepts and complexities can be studied at the higher levels of education.

But the article also suggests that this was done under pressure from religious groups. I never could understand why they can't just accept the science of evolution and simply say "God did it." Even if someone believes that God created everything, why does studying this "creation" be such a problem for those who believe?

If we assume that God created the land masses of the Earth, would drawing a map of those land masses somehow "taint" the Creation?

 

[sun rise]

We see the results of not understanding science in this thread sadly enough. Turkey is enshrining the same kind of ignorance about the world as part of their decent into darkness.

 

[Father Heathen]

I actually like the idea. The entire TOE is just a theory. Until the entire TOE can be shown to be true it should not be taught as truth like it is in the USA.

Scientific theories aren't "just a theory", and it has shown to be true.

"A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Such fact-supported theories are not "guesses" but reliable accounts of the real world." - Scientific theory - Wikipedia​

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

I actually like the idea. The entire TOE is just a theory. Until the entire TOE can be shown to be true it should not be taught as truth like it is in the USA.

Gravity's "just a theory" too. So's the spherical nature of the Earth

Do you even know what the word 'theory' means?

 

[Father Heathen]

Does this mean that Turkish hospitals will stop updating their antibiotics to keep up with resistant strains?

 

[Jumi]

I actually like the idea. The entire TOE is just a theory. Until the entire TOE can be shown to be true it should not be taught as truth like it is in the USA.

How about the atomic theory and gravitational theory? Mathematical theories? Should those be done away with as well.

 

[The Holy Bottom Burp]

Deeply depressing stuff, puts in me in mind of the Islamic revolution in Iran, once a secular country also. Books were burned, academics were attacked and abused. This is what happens when the men in frocks get a sniff of power and influence in society. I hope this passes, and the Turkish intelligentsia send the men in frocks back to where they belong - preaching their backward drivel inside mosques, not making rulings on what happens in the real world.

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

Deeply depressing stuff, puts in me in mind of the Islamic revolution in Iran, once a secular country also. Books were burned, academics were attacked and abused. This is what happens when the men in frocks get a sniff of power and influence in society. I hope this passes, and the Turkish intelligentsia send the men in frocks back to where they belong - preaching their backward drivel inside mosques, not making rulings on what happens in the real world.

It's a good thing Turkey won't be getting into the EU any time soon. The last thing we need is a Trojan horse of regressive barbarians worming their way into Europe.

 

[DavidFirth]

How about the atomic theory and gravitational theory? Mathematical theories? Should those be done away with as well.

I said it shouldn't be taught as truth. None of those theories are that I'm aware of.

 

[Terese]

We aren't discussing those. When a country says they can't be taught I'll discuss them with you.

But they are both "theories". The reason he is mentioning them is because they are also considered theories just as much as the theory of evolution. And to clarify this situation, a scientific theory is different from the average definition of theory.

 

[DavidFirth]

But they are both "theories". The reason he is mentioning them is because they are also considered theories just as much as the theory of evolution. And to clarify this situation, a scientific theory is different from the average definition of theory.

I changed my post.

Turkey has elected to teach Creation theory as truth rather than teach evolution while in the US evolution is taught as truth while Creation theory isn't taught at all.

I prefer Turkey's way.

 

[The Holy Bottom Burp]

It's a good thing Turkey won't be getting into the EU any time soon. The last thing we need is a Trojan horse of regressive barbarians worming their way into Europe.

Dunno if it is a good thing or bad thing mate, the more isolated a country becomes and the less exposure the natives get to other cultures, the more there is scope for theocrats to take over. Cultural diversity makes it harder for one religion to take hold and dominate.