Evolution Korea

The financial crisis that struck Asia caused a significant rethinking of the old system of government-business alliances and the public management of private risks. In Korea, that meant an evolution of the development model.

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

1. Evolution and Religion

A South Korean creationist group has persuaded textbook publishers to eliminate evidence of evolution from high school science texts. The move was a result of a campaign led by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR) which is an offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research that aims to clear textbooks on biology of "atheist materialism." The STR claims that such materialistic views create a negative image for students, and could lead to their eventual loss of faith.

When the STR's campaign hit the news, scientists across the world reacted with worry. Jae Choe, an evolutionary biologist at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, complained in an email to Nature's editor that South Korea had succumbed to religious prejudice. His colleagues backed him from around the country who formed a group called Evolution Korea to organize an anti-textbook petition.

Some scientists are worried that the STR could expand to other parts of the globe, including areas where creationism has been growing. The letter to Nature warned of the anti-evolutionist campaign putting pressure on textbook revisions, specifically in countries with large Christian and Muslim populations.

South Korea's culture is especially strong in the debate on evolution. 26 percent of the country's citizens belong to an organized religion, and most adhere to Christianity or Buddhism. Many Koreans also adhere to Ch'ondogyo, the philosophy based on Confucian principles that emphasizes social harmony, individual self-cultivation, and self-respect. Ch'ondogyo teaches that human beings are one with Hanulnim the God of the Sun, and that heaven-bound blessings can be derived by doing good deeds.

All of this has created fertile ground for the spread of creationism. Several studies have shown that students with religious backgrounds tend to be more uncomfortable about learning evolution than those without religion. The underlying reasons for this phenomenon are not clear. One possible explanation is that students with religious beliefs tend to be as knowledgeable about scientific theories and concepts and are therefore more susceptible to the influence of creationists. Another reason could be that those with a religious background may view evolution as a concept that is agnostic, making them feel uncomfortable.

2. Evolution and Science

In recent years, the scientific community has been concerned about anti-evolution efforts in schools. A 2009 survey revealed that over 40 percent of Americans believe that biological evolution is not true and that a belief in it would be contrary to their convictions about religion. Despite the popularity of creationism in certain states, many scientists feel that the best method to stop this trend is not to be actively involved in it, but rather to educate people about the evidence for evolution.

Scientists are responsible for teaching their students science including the theory of evolution. They must also educate the public on the research process and the way in which knowledge is confirmed. They must explain how theories of science are often challenged and revised. However, misconceptions about the nature and purpose of scientific research can fuel anti-evolution views.

For instance, some people are able to confuse the term "theory" with the normal meaning of the word - a hunch or guess. In the field of science, however, a hypothesis is rigorously tested and empirical data is used to confirm it. A theory that is repeatedly tested and observed becomes a scientific principal.

The debate over the theory of evolution is a wonderful chance to discuss the importance of scientific methodology and its limits. It is important for people to understand that science cannot answer questions about the meaning or meaning of life but it is merely a means that allows living things to evolve and change.

A well-rounded education should include exposure to all the major scientific fields that include evolutionary biology. This is crucial because a lot of jobs and decisions require that people know the way science works.

The majority of scientists around the world accept that humans have changed over time. In a study that predicted the views of adults on the consensus on this subject, those with higher levels education and scientific knowledge were found to be more likely to believe that there is wide agreement among scientists regarding human evolution. The people with more religious beliefs and have less science knowledge are more likely to disagree. It is critical that educators emphasize the importance of knowing the consensus on this issue to ensure that individuals have a solid foundation for making informed choices about their health care, energy use and other policy issues.

3. Evolution and Culture

A close relative to mainstream evolutionary theory, the concept of cultural evolution explores the many ways humans--and other organisms--learn from and with each other. Researchers in this area use explanation tools and models that are adapted from evolutionary theorists and reach back to prehistoric times to discover the earliest sources of culture.

This approach also acknowledges that there are differences between cultural and biological traits. While biological traits are generally acquired at once (in sexual species, after fertilization), cultural traits can be acquired over a lengthy period of time. As a result, the acquisition of one trait can influence the development of another.

In Korea for instance the emergence of Western fashion elements in the latter part of the 19th and early 20th centuries was the result of a complicated sequence of events. One of the most important was the appearance in Korea of Japanese occupation forces that introduced Western hairstyles and clothing.

After that, when Japan departed Korea in the 1930s, a portion of these trends began reverse. At the close of World War II, Korea was once more united, this time under the rule of the Choson dynasty.

Today, Korea is a vibrant economic and political power. Despite the recent global financial crisis, the economy of Korea has grown steadily in the past decade and is expected to maintain its steady growth in the coming years.

The current government has many challenges to face. The inability of the government to develop a coherent strategy to deal with the current economic crisis is one the biggest obstacles. The crisis has exposed the weaknesses of the country's policies, especially its over-reliance on foreign investment and exports, which may not last.

As the crisis has shattered the confidence of investors, the government must rethink its economic strategy and find alternatives to increase domestic demand. To ensure a stable economic climate the government will need to reform its incentive system, monitoring and discipline. This chapter offers a variety of scenarios for how the Korean economy could develop in a post-crisis world.

4. Evolution and Education

The biggest challenge for evolution educators is how to present evolutionary concepts in a manner that is appropriate for students of various ages and developmental stages. Teachers, for instance, must be sensitive to the diversity of religions in their classrooms and create a space where students with religious and secular beliefs feel comfortable learning evolution. Moreover, teachers need to be aware of common misconceptions about evolution, and how to deal with these in their classrooms. Teachers must also be able to access a range of resources that are available for teaching evolution and be able to locate them quickly.

In this context the Thinking Evolutionarily Convocation was an important step in bringing together evolutionary scientists and educators from a range of fields to discuss most effective methods of teaching about evolution. Attendees included representatives of scientific societies as well as educational researchers, officials from government funding agencies as well as curriculum developers. The convergence of various participants helped to identify a set of shared recommendations which will serve as the foundation for future actions.

It is important to include evolution in all science curricula at every level. National Science Education Standards (NRC) that call for the integration of evolution across all life sciences, with the developmentally appropriate, are a way to achieve this goal. Additionally, a new publication from the NRC offers guidance to schools on how they can integrate evolution into the science curriculum.

Multiple studies have shown that a more comprehensive presentation of evolution is linked to greater student understanding and belief in evolution. However, estimating the causal effect of evolution in the classroom is difficult due to the fact that school curriculums are not randomly assigned and change over time as a result of the predetermined timing of gubernatorial elections and appointments to the state board of education. To overcome this limitation I use a longitudinal data set that gives me to control for the effects of years and states fixed and individual-level variations in the beliefs of teachers about evolutionary theory.

Another significant finding is that teachers who feel more comfortable teaching evolution report having less intrapersonal barriers to doing so. This is in line with the idea that a faculty with more confidence is less likely to avoid Evolution KR topics in the classroom. Additionally, they could be more likely to use strategies such as an approach to reconciliation that is known to improve the acceptance of undergraduate students of evolution (Harms and Reiss, 2019; Tolman et al. 2020).