Like you said, it's kind of embarrassing for him that he doesn't already know this, hence why I asked twice...
jarofthoughts,
Is teaching Darwinian evolution ever "relevant". Once again, you couldn't list any tangible benefits. Darwinian Evolution is a circular theory, sort of like you need to learn it to understand it. You label it science, but the point is that any other "science" has produced tangible benefits to society: knowledge and understanding of the human body has helped doctors cure patients, knowledge and understanding of atoms has allowed chemists to produce useful materials, knowledge and understanding of electromagnetics has allowed engineers to create radios and televisions.
Darwinian evolution appears to have produced no such tangible benefits, although it has been around a long time. This belies its title as "science".
Unless you can state a tangible benefit, then that's at least one vote for no tangible benefits. It will only make sense for me to respond again if you at least attempt to list a tangible benefit.
These are things you should know already, or, that you could have figured out with about two minutes of research, but sure, I'll provide a few examples of the practical application of the Theory of Evolution, since you appear unable to figure them out yourself.
Bioinformatics, a multi-billion-dollar industry, consists largely of the comparison of genetic sequences. Descent with modification is one of its most basic assumptions.
Diseases and pests evolve resistance to the drugs and pesticides we use against them. Evolutionary theory is used in the field of resistance management in both medicine and agriculture.
Evolutionary theory is used to manage fisheries for greater yields.
Artificial selection has been used since prehistory, but it has become much more efficient with the addition of quantitative trait locus mapping.
Knowledge of the evolution of parasite virulence in human populations can help guide public health policy.
Source and further reading:
CA215: Practical uses of evolution.
And remember these are just examples.
In addition to this, regardless of what kind of job or education they aspire to later, it is important to teach kids science (Science in general, not just ToE.) because of their personal development. Science is the great enabler of humanity, showing us that while the universe is largely unknown, it is knowable, and science has provided humanity with a level of control over our lives and our environment that has no precedence in the history of this planet. Learning how science works helps dis-spell the feeling that science is magic and that what our scientists do is somehow shrouded in mystery.
Not to mention that it does something to you as a person to know about who and what you really are, where you and everything you see around you came from, and how it all works.
