I have always been interested in science, and in particular, biology, but opportunities for jobs and personal enrichment led me first into an early career in archaeology. It was my first summer job when I was 13 years old, and I continued along this track for about 11 years. A chance series of events caused me to end up taking the class “Human Evolution 101” taught by David Pilbeam, and I realized what must have been obvious to everyone else: Biological anthropology is the intersection between searching the landscape or digging around for clues to the ancient past (like an archaeologist does) and evolutionary biology. That realization led me to enter graduate school to study human evolution.
I had entered graduate school with three advisors: David Pilbeam, Glynn Isaac, and Stephen Williams. A series of unfortunate events led to my separation with Williams, including my accidentally stranding him on an island in Boston Harbor. I found my thesis topic much like many others do: The venerable “baboon guy,” Irv DeVore, offered me the opportunity to work on the Harvard Ituri Project, in what was then Zaire, doing “ethno-archaeology” with the Efe Pygmies and their neighbors, the Lese horticulturalists. Glynn sadly passed away during my first field season, and my work drifted from what Pilbeam was directly interested in, so I ended up with the distinction of being, officially, DeVore's last PhD student.
After (and partly derived from) my work with the Efe Pygmies, my theoretical interests formed around the closely linked issues of food and sex. More specifically, I'm interested in the relationship between human ecology (including diet) and human social systems. I believe that it is possible to see changes in these systems in the archaeological record, and I have been testing this idea with fieldwork in South Africa. I am also interested in the issue of race and racism.
Some time ago, perhaps when I was still a graduate student (but I don't remember), I got a phone call from a radio show producer in Florida inviting me to join with an evolutionary biologist from Florida State in a discussion of Evolution and Creationism for a Florida radio show. I saw this as an interesting opportunity, so I accepted the invitation. When I mentioned this to a colleague of mine, she told me that I was an idiot and that I had to contact Genie Scott right away. When I contacted Genie at the National Center for Science Education, she reaffirmed that I was an idiot, took down my address, and told me to wait by the mailbox for an important package from Federal Express.
What had happened, of course, was that I had been duped into a common trap by a group of creationists. The package from NCSE consisted of materials I would find helpful in “debating” with creationists. The radio talk show ended up being me and a guy named “Dr. Bible” who was, believe it or not, a creation scientist. The evolutionary biologist from Florida State, it turns out, couldn't do the show after all (and the producers could not remember his name).
I'm fairly sure I won the debate. But I don't think anyone listening on the small central Florida bible station bought any of it...
Since that time I have been more or less involved with the creation-evolution debate. Several things have moved me more and more in this direction, and in particular, in the direction of science education, in recent years. One is the fact that my daughter, Julia (age 12 ... almost) is going through the public school system, which really brings home the issue of science in the classroom. Another was being asked by my good friend Rusty Low, then the director of the University of Minnesota's Science Centrum, to join Randy Moore and Mark Decker in teaching a class (which they had already taught a couple of times) on the evolution-creation issue for Minnesota science teachers. I had already been teaching a class in that program on race and racism (also for teachers), and I found both classes to be very rewarding experiences.
These motivating forces relate to each other in myriad ways, of which I'll mention only a portion. The year before I worked with Randy and Mark on the creationism/evolution class, when I was teaching the race class, something interesting happened. It was a very enjoyable and productive class, though also very intense and challenging. I spent significant time with several of the teachers outside of class, and after the class was finished, talking to them about curriculum, career issues, giving talks in their schools, etc. These discussions continued a bit longer and more intensely with one of the teachers, who turned out to be brilliant, thoughtful, an excellent teacher, and a generally all round fantastic person. Eventually, one thing led to another, we became engaged, and today I am happy to say that I am married to an actual high school science teacher, Amanda. From Amanda, I have learned a great deal more than I thought there was to know about life in the classroom ... or should I say, life in the trenches...
As I said, these many threads are related. The year after Amanda and I met, Mark Decker and I found ourselves teaching back to back at a lecture hall at the U, so we would occasionally run into each other. Amanda and I had had many conversations about creationism, and it had become very clear to me that there were insufficient resources available for high school biology teachers confronted with creationist students, administrators, fellow teachers, even sometimes fellow science teachers. One day, between classes, I mentioned this to Mark. He agreed that this was a problem, and told me he would send me some information that might be useful. A couple of days later, he forwarded me a thread of emails between himself and ... you've probably guessed ... Amanda, about dealing with creationists in the classroom.
My view of MnCSE, and of of our individual roles related to evolution and creationism, is simple. I don't want to be involved in this issue, and I don't want MnCSE to be involved either. I want the NCSE to find itself with little to do regarding creationism, and to change it's direction to support science education in other ways. John Lennon said “Imagine no brotherhood of man.” He was imagining a world where peace was the norm, and “brotherhood” was invisible in it's ubiquity. I would like to imagine no organizations dedicated to protecting teachers and students from the invasive and obnoxious activities of zealots. I would like to imagine the day when the MnCSE spends most of it's time and energy supporting science teachers in their efforts to have better classrooms and laboratories, better pedagogy, better career development for their students, and better professional enrichment. I imagine the word “creationism” to be relegated to the obscurity of “Zoroastrianism” and “Alchemy.”
The currently available evidence indicates that the majority of Americans either don't accept evolution at all, or are very suspicious of it. More importantly, the evidence seems to suggest that this has not changed in decades. This seems to support the idea that we will be fighting creationism for a long time, perhaps forever. But I do not believe this. I am certain there are many empirical realities on par with “evolution happened” or “natural selection is a real, creative, force in biology” that, if polled, Americans would also not accept or believe, or that they would be suspicious of, but few of these seem to be issues in the classroom, the teachers lounge, or the school board. I believe that organizations like MnCSE should not be engaged in the pseudodebate over creationism vs. evolution, but rather, in the ethics driven support of science teachers who are simply trying to do their very important job. We should engage broadly in support of curriculum development, safety in the classroom, teacher training opportunities, and other critical needs.
However, it is clear that first we must deal with the attacks on our education system that are happening or that are looming in the near future. I believe that we need to develop a strategy that does not try to turn back the tide of creationist activism, but rather, obviates it. I believe we need to find a way to place creationism where it belongs ... where it truly originates ... on the fringe. We need to make it as unlikely for a school board member to put ID or creation science on the agenda as it would be for a school board member to push for teaching about Bigfoot in AP Biology. Untenable, uneducated, and fringe beliefs are in general not part of the discussion of pedagogy or school policy. In other words, there is a place, a kind of rational dust bin, to put arcane beliefs and fringe theories. We need to find a way to put creationism in this place where it belongs.
Greg Laden