We often receive e-mails from students seeking information on evolution. Recently a university student posed this question: “What are the top three flaws in evolutionary theory being taught in public schools today?” My response was as follows:
Unfortunately most public schools do NOT teach about the flaws in evolutionary theory. Instead, they censor this information, hiding from students all of the science that challenges Darwinian evolution. But in a perfect world, if the evidence against Darwinian theory were taught, these would be my top three choices:
- (1) Tell students that the fossil record often lacks transitional forms and that there are “explosions” of new life forms, a pattern of radiations that challenges Darwinian evolutionary theory.
- (2) Tell students that many scientists have challenged the ability of random mutation and natural selection to produce complex biological features.
- (3) Tell students that many lines of evidence for Darwinian evolution and common descent are weak:
- a. Vertebrate embryos start out developing very differently, in contrast with the drawings of embryos often found in textbooks which mostly appear similar.
- b. DNA evidence paints conflicting pictures of the “tree of life”. There is no such single “tree.”
- c. Evidence of small-scale changes, such as the modest changes in the size of finch-beaks or slight changes in the color frequencies in the wings of “peppered moths”, shows microevolution, NOT macroevolution.
Of course, in a perfect world, I’d also prefer that more than merely “three flaws in evolutionary theory” be taught to students.
I also referred the student to a resource that we regularly send out to college students, The College Student’s Back-to-School Guide to Intelligent Design, which contains lots of helpful answers to common objections to ID.