Evolution Korea

The economic crisis which swept Asia caused a major review of the old system of government and business alliances, as well as public management of risk. In Korea, this meant a shift in the model of development.

In a controversial decision the South Korean government has asked textbook publishers to ignore requests to remove examples of evolution from science texts for high school students. This includes the evidence for the evolution of horses as well as the bird ancestor Archaeopteryx.

1. Evolution and Religion

A South Korean creationist group has persuaded textbook publishers to remove evidence of evolution from high-school science texts. The Society for Textbook Revise, an independent offshoot from the Korea Association for Creation Research that wants to rid biology textbooks of “atheist materialism,” was behind the move. The STR asserts that such materialism creates negative images to students, leading them to be skeptical.

Scientists across the globe expressed worry when the STR campaign was featured in the news. In a letter to the editor of Nature evolutionary biologist Jae Choe of Ewha Womans University in Seoul complained that South Korea had given in to religious prejudice. He was backed up by colleagues across the country, who formed an organization called Evolution Korea to organize a petition against the textbook changes.

Researchers are concerned about the possibility that the STR campaign will spread to other parts of the world where the belief in creationism is on the rise. The letter to Nature warned that the anti-evolutionist movement will intensify pressure for revisions to textbooks in other countries, particularly those with strong Christian and Muslim populations.

South Korea’s cultural background is especially strong in the debate over evolution. 26 percent of South Koreans are members of a religion with the majority of them practicing Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also follow Ch’ondogyo, an ideology based on Confucian principles that emphasizes social harmony, individual self-cultivation and self-respect. Ch’ondogyo teaches that the human being is one with Hanulnim the God of Sun, and that divine blessings can be achieved through the good works of one’s.

All of this has made creationism fertile field. Numerous studies have found that students who have religious backgrounds to be more reluctant to learn about evolution as compared to those who do not. The underlying causes of this phenomenon are not known. One reason is that students with a religious background tend not to be as well-versed in scientific theories and concepts which makes them more vulnerable to the influence of creationists. Another possible factor is that students who have a religious background tend to view evolution as an atheistic idea, which may make them less at ease with the idea.

1. Evolution and Science

In recent years, campaigns against evolution in schools have caused concern within the scientific community. A survey conducted in 2009 revealed that nearly 40% of Americans believe that biological evolution is a lie, and that a belief in it would conflict with their convictions about religion. Despite the fact that creationism has been a huge success in some states, many scientists believe that the best way to stop this trend is not to actively engage in with it, but rather inform people about the evidence supporting evolution.

Scientists are required to teach their students about science and the theory of evolution. They also need to inform people about the process of science and how knowledge from science is collected and verified. They must explain how scientific theories are often challenged and revised. However, misconceptions regarding the nature of scientific research frequently fuel anti-evolution beliefs.

For example, some people confuse the term “theory” with the everyday meaning of the word - a hunch or a guess. In science, however, an hypothesis is rigorously tested and empirical data is used to confirm it. A theory that is repeatedly tested and observed becomes a scientific principle.

The debate about evolutionary theory is a good occasion to discuss the importance of the scientific method and its limitations. It is essential for people to understand that science is unable to answer questions about the purpose or meaning of life it only serves as a mechanism through which living organisms can grow and change.

A well-rounded education must include exposure to the vast majority of scientific fields including evolutionary biology. This is particularly important because the jobs that people have and the decisions they make require knowledge of how science works.

The majority of scientists around the world believe that humans have changed over time. In a recent study that predicted the opinions of adults about the consensus on this subject those with higher levels of education and knowledge of science were found to be more likely to believe that there is a broad agreement among scientists about the evolution of humans. Those with more religious faith but less science knowledge tend to be more divided. It is crucial that teachers insist on knowing the general consensus on this issue, so that people are able to making informed choices about their health care, energy use, and other policy issues.

1. Evolution and Culture

Cultural evolution is a close cousin of mainstream evolutionary theory. It focuses on how organisms like humans learn from each other. Researchers in this area use explanatory tools and investigative models that are adapted from evolutionary theorists. They also go back to the prehistoric human to find the origins of culture.

This approach also recognizes that there are differences between cultural and biological traits. Cultural traits are acquired slowly, whereas biological traits are usually acquired at the same time (in sexual species at fertilization). This means that the emergence of one cultural characteristic can affect the development of another.

In Korea the emergence of Western style elements in the late nineteenth and early 20th century was the result of a complex sequence of events. One of the most significant was the arrival of Japanese occupation forces, who introduced Western clothing styles and hairstyles to Korean society.

Then, when Japan departed Korea in the 1930s, a portion of these trends began reverse. By the end of World War II, Korea was once more united and was again under the rule of the Choson dynasty.

Today, Korea is a vibrant political and economic power. Despite the recent financial crisis, Korea’s economy has been growing consistently over the past decade. It is expected to keep this trend going in the future.

The current administration is faced with many challenges. One of the biggest is its inability to find a consistent policy to tackle the economic crisis. The crisis has exposed the shortcomings of the country’s economic policies, including its excessive dependence on exports and foreign investment which might not be sustainable in the long run.

The crisis has shaken the confidence of investors. This means that the government must reconsider its strategy and come up with other ways to boost the domestic demand. It also needs to reform the incentive monitoring, control, and discipline systems currently in place to create the stability of the financial system. This chapter outlines several scenarios of how the Korean economy could grow in the post-crisis era.

1. Evolution and Education

A fundamental challenge for evolution educators is how to present evolutionary concepts in ways that are appropriate for students of different age groups and developmental stages. Teachers should, for instance be aware of the diversity of religions in their classrooms and create a welcoming environment where students from both religious and secular perspectives feel comfortable. Teachers must be able to recognize common misconceptions about evolution and know how to address them in the classroom. Finally, teachers must have access to a range of resources that are available to teach evolution and be able to find them quickly.

In this regard, the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation was a crucial step towards bringing evolutionary scientists and educators from a variety of sectors to discuss the best practices for teaching evolution. Participants included representatives from scientific societies and educational research organizations, as well as officials of government funding agencies as well as curriculum developers. The convergence of various stakeholders helped identify a set of shared recommendations which will serve as the foundation for future actions.

It is crucial to include evolution in all science curricula at every level. To achieve this goal, the National Science Education Standards (NRC) require that evolution be taught in a seamless manner across all sciences, with a progression of ideas that are developmentally appropriate. Furthermore, a new publication from the NRC offers guidelines to schools on how to integrate evolution into the life science curriculum.

Multiple studies have shown that a more thorough presentation of evolution leads to better understanding by students and belief in the concept of evolution. It is difficult to quantify the causality of teaching in the classroom because school curricula do not change in a random manner and are influenced by the timing of state boards of education and the gubernatorial election. To overcome this limitation I utilize a longitudinal data set that allows me to control for year and state fixed effects and the individual-level variation in teacher beliefs about evolution.

Teachers who are more comfortable teaching evolution have fewer internal barriers. This is in line with the hypothesis that faculty who are more confident are less likely to be hesitant about evolution-related topics in the classroom, and may be more likely to employ strategies like a reconciliatory method known to increase undergraduate students’ acceptance of evolution.