pz

I was being nice. The post to which GTX took such exception actually responded to his four nonsensical points as civilly as it was reasonably possible to be, while still making it clear that he was an uninformed ignoramus.

The truth must hurt, since it seems to have inspired him into a little flurry of self-righteous whining.

Mageth

GTX, you posted:

Ha ha, very smart of you! I can see you are a person of great knowledge and composure.

Thanks for the very informative answers. LOL!

I gave the answer that I thought your post deserved in the context of this thread. And, to quote you, please don't assume I don't know anything, you have no idea what my thoughts are and you don't know what I can contribute.

Secular Elation

By "officially educated about evolution," I am referring to my high school year in which I had biology class, and later that year we studied an entire chapter on evolution.

pz

Just out of curiousity, how was the coverage of evolution -- poor, adequate, or thorough? Was the teacher reluctant or enthusiastic about the subject?

I ask because my son is going to be taking biology in high school this year, and the story I'm hearing from other parents is that evolution will get either a lackluster treatment, or be ignored entirely. One of the teachers is an outright creationist (which horrifies me, that someone so unqualified could be assigned to teach this subject), and the other is something of a cipher. I'm thinking of trying to organize some university intervention to see that students are at least briefly exposed to some honest evolutionary science before they graduate.

Secular Elation

I thought the coverage was quite good. The class was versed on all the basic areas of evolution as well as an examination of the evidences. We also participated in some labs.

However, some students weren't convinced, if that's what you're wondering. For further details on my experience in that class, <a href="http://www.geocities.com/sec_el/my_experiences_evolution.htm" target="_blank">see here.</a>

Regarding your concern with the class, I would certainly recommend a university intervention if things look like they may be poor.

DMB

GTX: I suggest you read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743201612/qid=1027532130/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7164141-4982201" target="_blank">this book</a> for the evolution of complex life.

pz

Yikes. From your description on that page, it sounds like the coverage was extremely poor and thin. I suppose that's common in most high school science classes, but still, it's a bit worrisome.

Secular Elation

I think the only problem was the students, not the chapter. We recorded notes on the evidences of evolution, the origin of the theory (including Larmarck's), we then engaged in some labs on variation (in which data was collected from the students) and we watched a few videos.

I felt well informed on evolution. It was not the teacher's fault; it was the closed-mindedness of the students.

Stephen T-B

Dear GTX: what you might ask the scientists here - or I’ll do it on your behalf, if you like - is where the theory stands in explaining divergence among species as opposed to divergence within species.
So the bat and the cat have a common ancestor (you may disagree but the biologists will give you chapter and verse as to how that is established); what I can’t get a handle on is the process by which a common ancestor produced such very different forms.
And talking of bats, it seems strange why a small ground-dwelling creature would have found a survival advantage in having webs between its digits. OK, so it wasn’t ground-dwelling - it lived in the canopy. perhaps. But other canopy-dwelling creatures didn’t follow the same route and I’m thinking now of the primitive, early-ancestor monkeys. The flying squirrels have a membrane between their limbs, but that’s not the same thing because they only glide. So why wings for a bat?
Am I right in thinking that we are in the realm of theory here, and that scientists aren’t all singing from the same song sheet when it comes to providing explanations?

Badfish

Thats right, keep showing your immaturity, I wasn't whining, what about the way you handled it, very professional and informative . After your lame response I was merely pointing out that I think your a jerk, so don't respond to my posts anymore and take a flying leap, unless you want to provide something relevant.