Opinion Piece…read what John Cameron of Princeton High School thinks about a current issue!
By:John Cameron, Princeton High School student worker
I have been hearing the word "Evolution" a lot in the
past few months at school. I was required to study
evolution and Charles Darwin’s book on evolution in my
Biology class. In my United States History II class
we are studying the 1920s, and evolution was a big
deal in the ’20s because of the controversy that
surrounded it.
People did not want to believe that God was
not
responsible for all of creation and that there was a
scientific reason for life. There was also
controversy whether evolution should be taught in
school because of the fact that it went against what
is said in the Holy Bible. That controversy leads me
to English class where we have been reading the play
Inherit The Wind is a dramatized account of a real
life trial that took place during the 1920s in Dayton,
Tennessee.
The State of Tennessee was trying to imprison
a local
science teacher for teaching his students evolution so
that they could make an example of him for the world
to see. The case brought a swarm of media to the
controversial trial. To make everything even more
dramatic the State of Tennessee hired a lawyer who was
famous for being an old fashioned southerner.
Inresponse a big newspaper up north sent the best lawyer
of the times out to defend the local teacher.
The trial was extremely biased, there was
even asign on the front of the court house that read, "Read
Your Holy Bible!" The Judge would not allow any of
the world renowned scientists to take the stand to
explain what the theory of evolution is even though
the jury and most of the local spectators didn’t even
know what they were arguing against.
The teacher lost the case but was only sentenced to a
fine because the Judge knew that if he would’ve hit
the defendant hard, people would make a mockery of the
trial and they would say that the Tennessee Judicial
System was not civilized, but he still had to uphold
the law. And they hint that the only reason the jury
found the teacher guilty at all was because they had a
lot of respect for the old-fashioned lawyer, and they
wanted to save his pride. But after all the drama and
controversy, evolution is now an extremely important
part of education, and is not only encouraged to be
taught in school by most people but in some courses it
is required.