Creationist Claim CA041: Teach the controversy

CREATIONIST CLAIM CA041: Teach the controversy.
Students should be taught all sides of a controversial issue. Evolution should not be taught without teaching the controversy that surrounds it.

1. On the fundamental issues of the theory of evolution, such as the facts of common descent and natural selection, there is no scientific controversy. The "teach the controversy" campaign is an attempt to get pseudoscience taught in classrooms. Lessons about the sociological issues of the evolution-creation controversy may be appropriate in history or other nonscience classes.
If the object is to keep bad science from the classroom, the same standards should be applied to the counterarguments from creationists, which are all bad science.

2. There are controversies over details of evolutionary theory, such as the relative contributions of sympatric versus allopatric speciation. These controversies require a great deal of background in biology even to understand what they are about. They should not be taught to beginning students. They should be taught to graduate-level students in biology, and they are.

Further Reading: Scott, E.C., and G. Branch. 2003. Evolution: What's wrong with 'teaching the controversy.'

From The Counter-Creationism Handbook by Mark Isaak