Teaching Evolution: A History

The teaching of evolution in public schools has long been a controversial issue in the United States. Scientists have long clashed with creationists over presenting unbiased information on the proven scientific fact of the theory of evolution. In this post, I am going to show you a history of how evolution has been taught in schools, and the court cases that helped shape this law

In Darwin's Day

When Charles Darwin published his book, On the Origin of Species, the public response was mixed. Darwin had the unfortunate luck of publishing his book at the same time that a new movement of Evangelist Christianity was spreading through the United States. Prominent evangelist preachers, such as Dwight L. Moody quickly condemned Darwin's text, calling it contrary to the teachings of Bible. Public opinion, particularly in southern states where evangelists were more prevalent, swung generally against teaching this new theory of evolution in schools.

The Butler Act and the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)

A scene from Inherit the Wind about the Scopes Money Trail

In response to these beliefs, many states created laws that actively prevented the teaching of Evolution in schools. The Butler Act was a Tennessee law passed in 1925 that outlawed public school teachers contradicting in any way the creation story from the bible, as well as teaching that "man is descended from a lower order of animal". This law was eventually challenged by the ACLU, following the arrest of the high school teacher John Scopes under the law. This led to the highly controversial case referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial. Following days of contentious, incredibly publicized and sensationalized debate, the jury ruled in favor of the law, upholding John Scopes' arrest. The issue of teaching evolution quietly died, with many (mostly southern) states passing similar laws. Evolution, for the most part, would not be taught in public schools for the next 40 years.

Epperson v Arkansas (1968)

Susan Epperson, the brave teacher who
put providing a good education above
her own freedom!

The next time that the issue of teaching of evolution would come back into public view was the Supreme Court case of Epperson v. Arkansas. Susan Epperson was a high school teacher in Arkansas who sued the Arkansas legislature over a law that forbid teachers from teaching evolution, or even from using textbooks that taught evolution. Epperson argued that the Arkansas law limited her First Amendment rights. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court decided that the Arkansas law violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution (the part that prevents the government from establishing a state religion). The court decided that, because the law was clearly based on the beliefs of fundamentalist christians, it was unduly helping one particular religious sect, and was therefore unconstitutional.

Edwards v Aguillard (1987)

Pictured: A balance, like the Louisiana law tried to make
between evolution and creationism education in schools

No longer allowed to ban evolution education outright, anti-evolution advocates switched tactics. Now, many conservative groups attempted to chip away at evolution education by instead framing the issue as a controversy between two equally valid ideas: evolution vs. creationism. Now, quite obviously, evolution and creationism are not equal ideas, as one is a scientific argument and one is based in religion. However, by branding the issue like this, anti-evolution advocates sought to get around the decision of Epperson v Arkansas and to allow creationsim to be taught in public schools. This is also where the idea of "Teach the Controversy" comes from, that schools should present 'both sides' of this 'controversial' issue, and allow students to decide for themselves. This is problematic in the case of evolution, as 'teaching the controversy' presents the two ideas as equally scientifically valid, and promotes the teaching of religious principles in public schools.

This rebranding led to the creation of a Louisiana law, the "Balanced Treatment for Creation Science and Evolution Science in Schools Act", that prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools, unless such teaching was accompanied by teaching of 'creation science' along side it. The Supreme Court ultimately saw through this rebranding, stating that the law was clearly in violation of the establishment clause, as it required teachers to teach creationism, a religious doctrine, in public schools.

Kiltzmeier v Dover Area School District (2005)

Anti-evolution advocates were stuck. They wanted creationism taught in schools, but had no way of getting around the pesky separation of Church and State. The answer came in the form of a new phrase, fresh off the presses of the conservative think tank the Discovery Institute: Intelligent Design (ID). ID, in essence, is creationism hiding as pseudoscience. A textbook, Of Pandas and People, was quickly written by creation scientist Percival Davis, presenting a number of pseudoscientific justifications for the idea that many things in nature show signs of being far too complex to have occurred naturally, and instead could only have been designed by some sort of creator. These ideas, of course, can be directly debunked by any evolutionary scientist. ID was a clever tactic, which built off of the ideas defeated in Edwards v Aguillard by presenting a debate between the 'equally valid', now both scientific ideas of evolution vs. intelligent design.

A lawsuit appeared in the Dover Area School District, after school district officials required teachers to read a statement about how ID was a logical, scientific alternative to the theory of evolution which the statement described as having holes and flaws. The case came before a federal judge who, over several days, took testimony from both biologists and creation scientists. In the end, the judge decided that ID was pointedly NOT SCIENCE, and that it was merely another attempt to allow creationism to be taught in public schools.

A pseudoscientific textbook that teaches intelligent design

The Story Today

Today, two states have laws on the books that permit creationism to be taught in public schools. Despite the years of drawn out legal battles, evolution is not taught everywhere throughout the United States. Even beyond the legal battles, there is not any good way to tell what is actually being taught in science classes throughout this country. Many schools probably continue to flaunt settled law to push religious arguments on students in public schools. Because of these issues of education, many adults in this country still refuse to accept the undeniable scientific truth that is Evolution. As laws change, and as our society progresses, hopefully our evolution education can improve. As our education improves, perhaps our societal views on evolution will start to improve as well.

For more info check out:

• This more in-depth timeline of the history of evolution education in this country!
• This article from the NCSE on evolution education!
• This pew research article on the current laws on evolution education, state by state.