Evolution Korea
The financial crisis that hit Asia caused a major review of the old system of government and business alliances, as well as public management of risk. In Korea, that meant an evolution of the development model.
In a controversial move South Korea's government has asked textbook publishers to ignore calls to eliminate examples of evolution in science books for high school students. This includes the evidence for the evolution of horses as well as the bird an ancestor Archaeopteryx.
1. Evolution and Religion
A creationist group in South Korea has successfully convinced textbook publishers to omit evidence of evolution from high school science texts. The Society for Textbook Revise, an independent offshoot from the Korea Association for Creation Research that aims to cleanse biology textbooks of "atheist materialism," was behind the decision. The STR claims that such materialistic views create a negative image for students and can lead to their eventual loss of faith.
When the STR's campaign hit the news, scientists from all over the world expressed alarm. Jae Choe, evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul and wrote an open letter to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. He was supported by colleagues from around the country who formed a group named Evolution Korea to organize an anti-textbook petition.
Some scientists are worried that the STR could be spread to other regions of the world, where creationism has been growing. The letter to Nature warned of the anti-evolution movement putting more pressure on textbook revisions, particularly in countries with large Christian and Muslim populations.
South Korea's culture is particularly strong for the evolution debate. 26 percent of South Koreans are part of a religious community and the majority of them practice Christianity or Buddhism. In addition, a lot of Koreans adhere to the Ch'ondogyo philosophy, which is based on Confucian principles that emphasizes social harmony and individual self-cultivation. Ch'ondogyo believes that humans are one with Hanulnim the God of the Sun, and that the heavenly blessings can be obtained by doing good deeds.
All of this has created a fertile field. Numerous studies have revealed that students who have religious backgrounds tend to be more uncomfortable about learning evolution than those without religion. The underlying causes of this phenomenon remain unclear. One possible explanation is that students who have religious beliefs tend to be as knowledgeable about scientific theories and concepts which makes them more susceptible to the influence of creationists. Another possibility is that students who have a religious background are more likely to view evolution as an atheistic concept and therefore less at ease with the idea.
2. Evolution and Science
In recent times the scientific community has been concerned about anti-evolution initiatives in schools. A survey in 2009 revealed that 40% of Americans believed that biological evolution was wrong and that it could conflict with their religious beliefs. Despite the success of creationism in some states, a lot of scientists feel that the best way to counter this movement is not to be actively involved in it, but rather to inform the public about the evidence supporting evolution.
Scientists are accountable to teach their students science including the theory of evolution. They should also inform people about the process of science and how knowledge is collected and validated. They should also clarify that scientific theories are frequently challenged and re-examined. However, misperceptions regarding the nature of scientific research often cause people to believe that evolution is not real.
For Recommended Looking at , some people confuse the term "theory" with the everyday meaning of the word - a hunch or a guess. In the field of science, however, a hypothesis is rigorously tested, and empirical data is used to verify it. A theory that is repeatedly tested and observed becomes a scientific principle.
The debate about evolution theory is a great occasion to discuss both the importance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is essential for people to recognize that science is unable to answer questions about the purpose or meaning of life, but only provides a mechanism that allows living things to grow and change.
Furthermore, a comprehensive education should include exposure to the vast majority of scientific fields that include evolutionary biology. This is crucial because a lot of jobs and decisions require people know the way science operates.
The majority of scientists across the world believe that humans have evolved over time. In a study that predicted the opinions of adults about the consensus around this issue people with higher levels of education and knowledge of science were found to be more likely believe there is a wide agreement among scientists about the evolution of humans. People with more religious beliefs and have less science knowledge are more likely to disagree. It is crucial that teachers emphasize the importance of understanding the consensus on this issue to ensure that people are able to making informed decisions regarding their health care, energy use, and other policy issues.
3. Evolution and Culture
A close relative to the mainstream evolutionary theory, cultural evolution studies the numerous ways that humans and other species learn from and with each other. Researchers in this field use explanation models and tools that are adapted from those employed by evolutionary theorists, and they go back to human prehistory to determine the genesis of our capacity for culture.
This approach also recognizes the distinction between cultural and biological traits. While biological traits are largely inherited all at once (in sexual species, during fertilization), cultural traits can be acquired over a protracted period of time. As a result, the acquisition of one characteristic can affect the development of another.
In Korea the emergence of Western style elements in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the result an elaborate sequence of events. One of the most important was the arrival of Japanese occupation forces, who introduced Western hairstyles and styles of clothing to Korean society.
After that, when Japan left Korea in the 1930s, some of those trends began to reverse. At the close of World War II, Korea was once again united and was again under the rule of the Choson dynasty.
Today, Korea is an economic and political power. Despite the financial crisis of recent the economy of Korea has been growing at a steady pace over the past decade. It is expected to continue this growth in the near future.
The current administration is faced with many challenges. One of the most serious is the inability to come up with an effective strategy to tackle the economic crisis. The crisis has exposed shortcomings of the country's economic policies, mainly its overreliance on foreign investment and exports that may not be sustainable over the long term.
The crisis has shaken confidence of investors. In the aftermath, the government has to reconsider its strategy and come up with other ways to increase domestic demand. It will also have to reform the incentive monitoring, control, and discipline systems that are in place to guarantee the stability of the financial system. This chapter outlines several scenarios of how the Korean economy could grow after the crisis.
4. Evolution and Education
The biggest challenge for educators of evolution is how to present evolutionary concepts in ways that are appropriate for students at various ages and developmental stages. Teachers, for instance, must be sensitive to the religious diversity of their classrooms and create a space that students who have religious and secular beliefs feel comfortable in learning about evolution. Teachers must also be able to identify common misconceptions regarding evolution and know how to address them in the classroom. Teachers should also have quick access to the various resources to teach evolution.
In this context the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation was an important step towards bringing evolutionary scientists and educators from a range of sectors to discuss the most effective methods of teaching about evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies and educational research organizations, as well as officials from government funding agencies and curriculum designers. The convergence of these diverse groups resulted in a consensus set of recommendations that will form the basis for future actions.
One of the most important recommendations is that the teaching of evolution should be incorporated in all science curricula at any level. National Science Education Standards (NRC) that call for the integration of evolution across all life sciences, with an educational progression that is developmental appropriate, are a good method to achieve this goal. Furthermore, a new publication from the NRC offers guidelines for schools on how to integrate evolution into the science curriculum.
Multiple studies have proven that a more complete explanation of evolution can lead to better understanding by students and belief in the concept of evolution. However the estimation of causal effects in the classroom is challenging due to the fact that school curriculums are not randomly assigned and evolve in time as a result of the predetermined timing of gubernatorial elections and state board of education appointments. To overcome this limitation I use a longitudinal data set that gives me control for state and years fixed effects and individual-level variations in the beliefs of teachers regarding evolutionary theory.
Another significant finding is that teachers who are more comfortable with teaching about evolution report having fewer intrapersonal barriers to doing so. This is in line with the idea that faculty who are more confident are less likely to be hesitant about evolution-related topics in the classroom, and may be more inclined to employ strategies like a reconciliatory method which is used to increase the acceptance of undergraduate students of evolution.