A lot of people don’t want to believe that humans are descended from apes. “That’s OK,&rdquo scientists tell them, “we don’t believe that either. Humans are descended from some animal that was the ancestor of both apes and humans.&rdquo Let’s not quibble. That animal looked a lot like an ape.

Then the people who don’t want to believe it argue that the whole idea of evolution, the idea that people or animals are descended from other animals, is just a “theory.&rdquo Well, of course it’s just a theory! Almost all science is theory. Quantum theory, relativity theory, even Newton’s old theory of gravitation, are theories. Science without theory would be bare facts, like “I saw the sun rise this morning, will it rise tomorrow? I don’t know.&rdquo Theory says it will.

Then the people who don’t want to believe evolution say, “We have a theory, too. All animals were created at the same time,&rdquo and they call their theory “creation science.&rdquo Well, it’s not science. Science is the process of deriving theories to explain facts, i.e., shared observations. If I say I looked in a certain direction and saw a star, that’s not a fact until other people look in the same direction and see the same star. Evolution is a theory based on facts. Creation is a doctrine based on traditional belief.

What should schools teach? Would it be too simplistic to suggest that schools should teach facts? It’s a fact that some people believe, on the basis of science, that humans and apes are descended from a common ape-like ancestor. It’s another fact that other people believe, based on their religion, that humans and apes were created independently. Teach these facts and put an end to the stupid arguments.