Evolution education: treating evolution as a sensitive rather than a controversial issue

ABSTRACT

Evolution is often seen as a site of contestation within the school curriculum. The topic of evolution is therefore often considered to be ‘controversial’. I first examine what is meant by ‘controversial’ and conclude that while, in an everyday sense, the topic of evolution can indeed be considered to be controversial, this term can mislead. A more fruitful way forward may be to regard the topic of evolution as ‘sensitive’. I examine reasons why evolution might be considered sensitive – noting that for a not inconsiderable number of people it is so because of a perceived conflict with religious views and also because it may be existentially disturbing for some. Rather little attention has been paid in the philosophy of education literature as to how we might deal with sensitive issues. I therefore look at what we mean by describing an issue as sensitive and at how teachers might deal in the classroom with such issues, specifically evolution.

KEYWORDS:

• Evolution education
• controversial issues
• sensitive issues
• creationism
• intelligent design

Acknowledgments

A version of this paper was given at the International Network of Philosophy of Education (INPE) Conference at Haifa, Israel in 2018. I am also very grateful to valuable feedback from two reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.