Why is teaching evolutionary biology so important?  This question can only be answered adequately by first addressing two other, even more fundamental questions: What is science, and why is teaching science so important?

Science is the name given to the process by which we seek to understand the universe in terms of natural processes.  Science is asking questions, then making observations and from those observations, finding the most correct answers.  It is fundamentally an objective and experimental process that does not have any preconceived notion about what the answer to a given puzzle might be.  It is only the process of gathering facts, generating new theories, and testing those theories against new observations that science can understand the world around us.

Science accepts that any theory must be falsifiable by further experimentation or observation; that is, if a given idea cannot be rigorously tested, it does not represent a valid scientific explanation.  Furthermore, scientists accept and admit that there are things that are still unknown, undiscovered, or unexplained.   Hence, science is not a belief system and it does not call upon supernatural forces.  Finally, science is self-correcting in that fraud, incorrect conclusions, and faulty assumptions will in the course of continued investigation be identified and corrected.

Teaching the scientific method and its conclusions is so important because of the ever-increasing role science plays in our daily lives.   New discoveries and the inventions they spawn can better human life in a myriad of ways.  More effective medicine, better crop yield, more accurate weather prediction, safer transportation, and cleaner energy sources are just a few of the advances that depend utterly on a rigorous and active scientific enterprise.  Our economy grows based on new innovations sparked by scientific discovery.  Our national policy makers depend on input from science to make decisions to ranging from health care policy to environmental protection to national security.

We have a deep responsibility to educate our children to the very highest standards in order to equip them to compete and be successful.  A strong science education is a critical component of this education: those that do not understand what science is, what it can tell us, how it impacts their daily life, and how it should be used will be placed at a distinct disadvantage.  Future generations depend on us to conduct good and honest science, and to educate our children in what good and honest scientific practices and conclusions are.

How can one compete for jobs in a technology-rich world without understanding the very basis of technology?  Where will the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs come from without a scientifically astute public?  How will our nation compete with other nations if we fall behind in science education? How can one debate the merits and costs of stem cell research, environmental preservation, health care policy, and alternate energy policy without a thorough science education? These rhetorical questions point to an obvious conclusion: by weakening science education we shirk our responsibility to our children and cause dire harm to the future of our society. 

Evolution is and must remain a central component of a rigorous science education.  The fact that some individuals in our society are uncomfortable with this particular scientific conclusion cannot be used as a justification to weaken science education; evolutionary conclusions and their consequences are too fundamental.  If non-scientific arguments are allowed to eliminate the teaching of evolution, then any scientific principle could be placed on the chopping block. Such practice is contrary to science itself.

Let’s make no bones about it:  Evolution is not a sidebar in biology. It is not one small aspect of the study of life on Earth.  Evolution is the very foundation of the biological sciences.  Ernst Mayr wrote “Evolution is the most important concept in biology. There is not a single Why? question in biology that can be answered adequately without a consideration of evolution.”  Understanding evolution is critical to research and advances in medicine, agriculture, public health, ecology, botany, zoology, etc.  Curing cancer will require that we apply the lessons of evolution.  Even scientific endeavors far removed from biology depend on an understanding of evolutionary processes.  Science is an integrated continuum of knowledge that cannot be neatly dissected into discrete areas of thought; evolutionary processes appear to guide the formation of complex adaptive systems in fields as distant as economics.  To attack evolution is to attack science itself, and to attack science is to negate the value that science can have in our society.

Can we teach science without teaching evolution?  No.  Doing so would be akin to training doctors without ever showing medical students what the human body looks like or how it works.  It would be like teaching auto repair while avoiding mention of the engine.  Both would be shortsighted and irresponsible, and would drastically limit the students’ capabilities. This would be exactly the problem with teaching science while removing instruction on evolution, the fundamental process that governs all life on Earth. 

Some would attempt to counter this by stating that evolution is “just theory” while science education should be about teaching facts.  Ernst Mayr addressed this very well when he wrote, “Evolution is not merely an idea, a theory, or a concept, but is the name of a process in nature, the occurrence of which can be documented by mountains of evidence that nobody has been able to refute….Evolution is no longer a theory, it is simply a fact.”  Even if one is unwilling to drop the “theory” label from evolution, the overwhelming evidence in support of this theory has eliminated competing theories from consideration.  There is simply no other reasonable explanation for the data.

As a society we owe it to our children to pass on the full breadth of our knowledge so that they can fully benefit from that knowledge and build upon it.  Evolution represents the best, indeed the only, rational and rigorous scientific explanation for the diversity, distribution, and complexity of life.  No other natural explanation has ever been posited that explains the observed phenomena so well.  Although belief systems may choose other explanations built on preconceived ideas, they are not scientifically based and usually not scientifically testable, and therefore do not belong in a scientific discussion. Intelligent design and creationism are prime examples of such belief-based concepts, with virtually no credible scientific evidence supporting them. To teach our children about these concepts alongside evolution would be to fundamentally mislead them with a dishonest representation of our scientific knowledge. We would not teach Astrology in an Astronomy class or New-Age crystal healing in a course in Medical School.  We would not eliminate certain topics in a mathematics course because some members of our society are uncomfortable with the concept of irrational numbers, and we would not teach the laws of physics with the caveat “…gravity is just a theory, other explanations have been proposed.” 

To teach evolution fully and robustly is to teach science properly.  We owe that to our children.