Haugen's Views on the Teaching of Evolution

I hold to the views of the National Center for Science Education, The National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Teachers' Association, the National Association of Biology Teachers, among others:

"Evolution is a vital, well-supported, unifying principle of the biological sciences, and the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the idea that all living things share a common ancestry. Although there are legitimate debates about the patterns and processes of evolution, there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurrence. It is scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible for creationist pseudoscience, including but not limited to "intelligent design," to be introduced into the science curricula of our nation's public schools. "
--National Center for Science Education

Although intelligent design supporters may argue differently, intelligent design is creationism by another name, and it is not science. No evidence supporting ID exists in any scientific journals. It is based in religion and is constitutionally illegal in public classrooms. Indeed, any private school science classroom that advocates ID instead of evolution (or offers it as a scientific alternative) is ill-preparing its students for a competitive job market. See cartoon!

I believe that evolution and religious faith need not be mutually exclusive. I am a member in good standing of the Methodist Church, and consider myself to be a Christian believer with a strong faith. I also believe, however, that because of the constitutional separation of church and state, religion is not to be taught in the public school classroom. For this reason, intelligent design should not be introduced into a discussion of evolution in a biology classroom. It is the parents' choice as to whether or not their child will be taught to believe in a religion, and the job of the parents and the church to educate students in that realm, not the teacher's. I am not credentialed to teach religion of any sort, only science.

One after another, courtroom decisions are beginning to pile up confirming what I have stated above...attempts to institute intelligent design or to legislate "teaching the controversy" are thinly veiled attempts at injecting fundamentalist Christianity through creationism into the classroom. See Kitzmiller v. Dover, Selman v. Cobb County.

I have personally found that members of the general, nonscientific public who believe in ID as an alternative to evolution overwhelmingly do not understand, or choose not to understand, the concepts of evolutionary theory, and are therefore not equipped to make an educated decision.

I have personally found that members of the general, nonscientific public who believe in ID as an alternative to evolution overwhelmingly believe that scientific theories are minor, temporary, or "hunches" and stand to be eventually overturned when a new theory is discovered. This is not true. A scientific theory is backed by an overwhelming amount of evidence and those backed up by legitimate science are not temporary. People who try to argue that evolution is a theory that does not stand up to scrutiny do not make the same argument about gravity, relativity, or atomic structure, which are also all theories. Evolutionary theory is very broad and encompasses an enormous amount of evidence, all of which exists as fact and will never be overturned. The fossils cannot be buried once they are found!

Evolutionary concepts represent a substantial portion of California Content Standards and are tested as substantially on the STAR test in biology. If you, as a parent or student, find that your science teacher is not addressing the topic or is advocating or introducing religious, nonscientific views on life's beginnings in your classroom, you should not hesitate to speak your views (in a calm, respectful, and mature manner, in private) to that teacher, and if that does not work, to the school administration.  

Links
Miller and Levine's Evolution Resources
Wikipedia's summary of Kitzmiller v. Dover