The Way of Science

III. Political and Educational Conflict: Creationism paper

Your writing assignment is to examine the political and educational conflicts between Creationism and Evolutionary Biology. Start (now!) by reading the following items:

1. Bennetta, W. J. Crusade of the Credulous, pp. 19 - end.
2. (#13) Gillis, A.M. 1994. Keeping Creationism out of the Classroom. Bioscience 44(10): 650-656.
3. (#14) Gould, S.J. 1981. A Visit to Dayton. Natural History 90(10): 8-22.
4. (#15) Gould, S. J. 1982. Moon, Mann, and Otto. Natural History 91(3): 4-8.

Please base your paper on these references.

All this reading is raw material for a major writing assignment. Your final product should be at least five pages long (typed, double -spaced); it will count as 100 points, equivalent to an in-class exam.

Please note that you should start this task now. You may submit a first draft (typewritten); see the schedule for the deadline. This draft will be returned to you quickly, so that you can make changes. Note also the due-date for the final product, and be aware that this deadline is as close to absolute as possible. In other words, unless you are in the hospital, or there has been a major family emergency, no late papers will be accepted. Translation: late submissions are zeroes.

Creationism paper instructions:

In this essay, you are to summarize the major points from the readings on how the Creationist movement has influenced public education in the US. We would like you to break your work into six labeled sections. In "scientific" writing, where locating information is of primary importance, disjunct and labeled sections are appropriate, and commonly seen. The title of the six sections, and the material you must include in each section, are as follows:

1. 1. Introduction (accentuate the headings by using italics, underlining, bold-face, etc.)
   In the introduction, tell the reader what the central thesis of your essay is. (Hint: if you fail to refer to the effects of the Creationist movement on American public education, you have missed the point.) You should also tell the reader what Creationism is, and which people believe in, and support, this movement.

   In terms of style, do not begin by saying "In this essay, I will tell you ..." or "This essay is about ..." Try to find a stylish beginning. If all else fails, try a rhetorical question as a starting sentence.
   
   

2. 2. Creationism: the twenties through the sixties
   What were the demands of the Creationists during this period? Why did they make these demands? I.e., what was the fundamental thesis of early American Creationism? Devote a major portion of this section to the Scopes trial and some of its effects. Remember: don't bury basic and important ideas under masses of detail. Get the fundamental ideas explained; then you may embellish with detail.
   
   
3. 3. "Scientific" Creationism: the seventies to today
   After about 1967, the Creationists changed much of their public appearance. Why did they become "Scientific" Creationists, at least on the surface? In what way were legal attacks different in the period? Why did they change their demands?

   In this section, you must contrast "pure" anti-Evolution strategies with the "equal time" demand. You must include a discussion on how the First Amendment plays a critical role in all the court decisions. Talk about several of the major court cases of this period, and what they mean. We will expect to see at least a discussion of Epperson case, and a long section on Act 590 and Overton's decision.
   
   

4. The effect on textbooks
   In a chronological fashion, give the reader an overview of how public-school biology texts have been affected by this movement. Use lots of specific examples. Be sure to include a discussion of the Creationists' strategy for by-passing the courts: that is, describe their influence on school boards and publishers. Be sure to tell the reader what the "adoption states" are, and how they play a major role in determining the content of public school biology texts.
   
   
5. The larger goal
   Several of your readings claim that the anti-Evolution movement is just a small part of a "grand agenda" that extends far beyond biology. What are the goals of this larger movement, according to your readings? Are they succeeding in their goals? Be as specific as possible.
   
   
6. Discussion/Conclusions
   Now it's time to introduce your own views. Look back over what you have written, and briefly summarize what all these authors are talking about; then, dive in, and tell the reader where you stand, and why. Defend your position. Pull everything together in this section.

Now: here's more information on style.

• Use your own words! Do not quote! Well, OK, you may choose ONE quote. Do not just slightly alter some author's phrases. If we see Bennetta's words delivered as your own, we will consider it plagiarism, and grade accordingly.
  
  
• You should periodically give the reader an indication of where you obtained your information. In the sciences, we do not generally use footnotes for this purpose, and never use "ibid," "op.cit.," etc. Here are two variants of the parenthetical citation style that we commonly use.

By the end of this time, texts were nearly devoid of information on Evolution (Bennetta, 1986, p.8).

According to Bennetta (1986, p.8), by the end of this time, texts were nearly devoid of information on Evolution.

After citing sources in you text, you must give the reader full citations for each author. Add a section called Sources Cited at the end of your paper. List, alphabetically, the cited authors and their works. Here are two examples, in the form we require:

Bennetta, W. J. 1986. Crusade of the Credulous. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences Press. 36 pp.

Gillis, A.M. 1994. Keeping Creationism out of the Classroom. Bioscience 44(10): 650-656.

Note: Book and journal titles are underlined/italicized, but titles of articles are not, and not placed in quotes. Books have the publisher, place of publication, and total pages given. Journal articles have first and last page numbers given.