Ignorance About "Theory": Reader Responds to Feb. 28 Letter to Editor in The Wakulla News

Dear Editor:

The February 28 issue of The Wakulla News carried a letter from Rep. Marti Coley that solidly underscores the need for better science education in Florida schools, assuming, of course that the good representative from Marianna is a product of such. Coley asserts that the Feb. 19 approval by the State Board of Education strengthens our schools’ science teaching standards, which indeed it does, albeit not for the reason Coley cited.

{sidebar id=1}Coley wrote that the new standards “will teach evolution as a scientific theory, not as scientific fact.” This is patently untrue, as even a simple reading of the new standards readily proves. The scientists who helped frame the new standards agreed to modify the word “evolution” with the words “scientific theory of” as purely a political move to sidestep a religiously motivated effort to kill the proposed new standards outright. All of these framers (68 in total) well know that just like any other scientific concept — from gravity to quantum mechanics — evolution is both a fact and a fact-based theory. They also realized that their compromise would keep non-scientific, religion-based notions such as creationism and intelligent design out of science classrooms.

Coley is unfortunately one of millions of Americans who simply don’t grasp the meaning of the word “theory” when the word is used in science — it hardly means the same as in casual usage, as in “Joe has a theory that it’s going to rain tomorrow.” Coley and her ilk also think evolution subverts Christianity by somehow taking God out of creation, which is equal nonsense as any theologian worthy of the name will readily affirm.

Evolution theory has lots to say about the origin of species, but nothing about the origin of life. My theory is that Coley doesn’t understand the difference in the two — or care.

Frank Stephenson
Tallahassee, FL

This letter originally published on March 3, 2008.

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