{"id":240096,"date":"2023-04-28T20:30:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=240096"},"modified":"2023-05-02T16:42:22","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T11:12:22","slug":"darwin-must-stay-in-indian-school-textbooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/darwin-must-stay-in-indian-school-textbooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Darwin must stay in Indian school textbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cDarwin must stay in Indian school textbooks\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d <\/strong>on 28th April 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Issues related to development and management of education<\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/strong> Issues related to pedagogy and curriculum<\/p>\n

News- <\/strong>The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) dropped Darwin\u2019s theory from the examination syllabus for Class 9 and 10 students in the academic year 2021-22<\/p>\n

Darwin\u2019s theory explains the origin of human beings.<\/p>\n

Why are the shortcomings in our approach to teaching Darwin theory?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first thing that is neglected is the influence of other people<\/strong> on Darwin.<\/p>\n

Darwin was strongly influenced by geologist Charles Lyell\u2019s Principles of Geology<\/em><\/strong>. Lyell studied glaciers, volcanoes and fossils, and proposed the concept of \u201cgradual geological change\u201d<\/strong>. Geological objects today result from minute changes accumulating over a period of time.<\/p>\n

Lamarck, the French naturalist<\/strong> proposed his own theory of evolution <\/strong>before Darwin. It also portrayed evolution as a process that included accumulation of changes over time. Darwin seems to invoke the same Lamarckian theory of use and disuse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Darwin was influenced by social beliefs of his time<\/strong>s. Darwin\u2019s theory was an extension of laissez-faire economics.<\/strong> The term was conceived by economist Adam Smith and developed by Thomas Malthus. It referred to self-interest and free competition in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

Malthus also propounded a theory of population in 1798. He claimed that humans compete for limited resources until a catastrophic event leads to a decline in their population.<\/p>\n

Darwin was greatly influenced by Malthus\u2019 ideas of competition <\/strong>in an environment with limited resources. Thus, only those living beings survive that carry variations that give them an edge over others.<\/p>\n

Another grave omission in the teaching of the theory of evolution is the consequent use of his theory<\/strong> both by others and Darwin himself.<\/p>\n

For instance, Herbert Spencer\u2019s idea of \u201csurvival of the fittest\u201d, proposed in 1864, coalesced eventually into a philosophy called \u201csocial Darwinism\u201d. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In his later book, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex<\/strong><\/em>, Darwin claimed that men have evolved to be naturally more intelligent since they have had to continuously use their mental power.<\/p>\n

Why must students and teachers in school concern themselves with the above aspects of Darwin\u2019s theory? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

These examples carry crucial insights<\/strong> into science in both the historical and contemporary world. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Science is shaped by the social and cultural beliefs <\/strong>of its times, to which it also actively contributes.<\/p>\n

These examples remind us that science is a messy affai<\/strong>r that requires caution alongside curiosity, creativity and imagination.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cDarwin must stay in Indian school textbooks\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 28th April 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Issues related to development and management of education Relevance: Issues related to pedagogy and curriculum News- The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) dropped Darwin\u2019s theory from the… Continue reading Darwin must stay in Indian school textbooks<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,11421,10498],"class_list":["post-240096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-ncert-syllabus-change","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704438569},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}