Dec 6, 2025 08:28 PM
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critic...classrooms
EXCERPTS: A new poll shows that nearly half of all Canadians believe that creationism—the idea that living things on this planet were created by supernatural forces—should be taught in schools. More troubling, it seems, is the observation that the fraction of Canadians who think so has gone up in the last year and a half, from 4 in 10 to nearly 5 in 10 now.
Are Canadians pushing for religion to creep into the biology curriculum? Not necessarily. The value of this survey is debatable; what isn’t, however, is the profusion of evidence we have for what came to replace creationism: the theory of evolution.
Creationism is not science. When it was rebranded as “intelligent design,” it became a pseudoscience: a system of beliefs that is given the appearance of science, much like how a dachshund in a wiener costume will look like a hot dog if you squint. And it’s not just scientists saying so.
[...] A poll’s usefulness lives and dies in the phrasing of its questions. ... I would answer “yes:” I think it should be taught because many people believe it and we should teach why it is wrong. ... People saying “yes” may not mean for creationism to be taught instead of evolution or as a viable scientific alternative to it.
[...] It is something to keep an eye on, because creationism should absolutely not be advocated for in a science classroom... (MORE - missing details)
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COMMENT: Well, it might be that. But then again it could be just another effect of postcolonial philosophy -- or more specifically, decolonization of knowledge, on the general population.
Where it is taken into account that even indigenous peoples have their own distinct creation stories (and traditions). Where the West is deemed an historical oppressor not just in a socioeconomic sense, but in an epistemological context of eradicating and suppressing local expertise and beliefs of diverse communities around the globe.
Akin to the postmodern-like, anti-foundationalist refrain of Richard Rorty: "No area of culture, and no period of history, gets Reality more right than any other." That stated, though... Hopefully Canseco is on target about the cause being the other possibility.
EXCERPTS: A new poll shows that nearly half of all Canadians believe that creationism—the idea that living things on this planet were created by supernatural forces—should be taught in schools. More troubling, it seems, is the observation that the fraction of Canadians who think so has gone up in the last year and a half, from 4 in 10 to nearly 5 in 10 now.
Are Canadians pushing for religion to creep into the biology curriculum? Not necessarily. The value of this survey is debatable; what isn’t, however, is the profusion of evidence we have for what came to replace creationism: the theory of evolution.
Creationism is not science. When it was rebranded as “intelligent design,” it became a pseudoscience: a system of beliefs that is given the appearance of science, much like how a dachshund in a wiener costume will look like a hot dog if you squint. And it’s not just scientists saying so.
[...] A poll’s usefulness lives and dies in the phrasing of its questions. ... I would answer “yes:” I think it should be taught because many people believe it and we should teach why it is wrong. ... People saying “yes” may not mean for creationism to be taught instead of evolution or as a viable scientific alternative to it.
[...] It is something to keep an eye on, because creationism should absolutely not be advocated for in a science classroom... (MORE - missing details)
- - - - - - - -
COMMENT: Well, it might be that. But then again it could be just another effect of postcolonial philosophy -- or more specifically, decolonization of knowledge, on the general population.
Where it is taken into account that even indigenous peoples have their own distinct creation stories (and traditions). Where the West is deemed an historical oppressor not just in a socioeconomic sense, but in an epistemological context of eradicating and suppressing local expertise and beliefs of diverse communities around the globe.
Akin to the postmodern-like, anti-foundationalist refrain of Richard Rorty: "No area of culture, and no period of history, gets Reality more right than any other." That stated, though... Hopefully Canseco is on target about the cause being the other possibility.