Friday, December 02, 2005
Ohio: Jewish Schools Split on Evolution
Marilyn Karfeld, writing in the Cleveland Jewish News, reports that while a number of Jewish organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, have expressed concern over the teaching of ID in public schools, a survey of the Jewish high schools in the Cleveland area, all Orthodox institutions, reveals that not all teach evolution.
"There’s just not time in the school year to cover every one of the biology text’s 43 chapters," Lois Mager, assistant principal at the Hebrew Academy’s Yavne School for Girls explains. The decision not to study evolution stems from a lack of time and the fact that evolution is “contrary to the school’s philosophy,” Mager says. “I’m sure it’s mentioned in the classroom. It’s just not a primary focus.”
On the other hand:
"There’s just not time in the school year to cover every one of the biology text’s 43 chapters," Lois Mager, assistant principal at the Hebrew Academy’s Yavne School for Girls explains. The decision not to study evolution stems from a lack of time and the fact that evolution is “contrary to the school’s philosophy,” Mager says. “I’m sure it’s mentioned in the classroom. It’s just not a primary focus.”
On the other hand:
At Fuchs Mizrachi School, students learn “evolution as evolution,” says Rabbi Pinchos Hecht, head of school. “We have no issue with it at all. From a religious perspective, God is the creator of the universe, who put into process the natural order. Nature uses evolution to progress everything in the world to perfection.”
