The Catalan school has forgotten about Darwin

"In biology, nothing makes sense except in the light of evolution." This is the title of an influential article that evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky published in 1973 in the journal American Biology TeacherThe phrase became instantly popular and is still cited by many authors today, especially in relation to education. Biological structures and processes can only be explained as the result of an evolutionary process modulated by natural selection, as established by the British naturalist Charles Darwin 166 years ago. That is why teaching evolution is considered a key aspect of school learning.

And for this reason, the contrast in Catalan schools, where evolution is largely not taught, is so surprising. How can this be? On the one hand, the term evolution Evolution doesn't appear even once in the primary school curriculum, contrary to what happens in neighboring countries. Catalan schools leave its study of evolution for secondary school (ESO). And here's the problem: the official curriculum places the teaching of evolution within the 4th year of ESO biology course, which is an optional subject! According to data from the Department of Education, only 39% of students in Catalan public schools choose this option. This means that 61% of Catalan students—at least in public schools—finish their compulsory education without having studied evolution. There may be exceptions, as teachers have some flexibility and can decide to include evolution at various points, but, in general, this is the case in most schools, according to the teachers themselves.

This situation is especially tragic considering the importance of the concept. Without grasping evolution through natural selection, it's difficult to understand the world we live in. Where did the human species come from? What are fossils? How can we explain the existence of eight million species on our planet? This immense diversity is explained by an evolutionary history spanning 3.5 billion years, in which a fascinating double process unfolds: on the one hand, DNA replicates itself through a highly efficient process, but one that is not perfect and contains random errors, which are the source of genetic diversity. On the other hand, this diversity is acted upon by the process known as natural selection: the most efficient or best-adapted genetic variants will eventually predominate in a population, primarily because the individuals carrying them reproduce more than others.

If this process, this interplay between chance and necessity, is not properly understood, it's easy to fall into misconceptions. Some of these misconceptions are so deeply ingrained that they have become veritable cultural icons, like the famous monkey-human sequence that we've all seen drawn countless times, and which leads us to think of evolution as a process of improvement or progress. But biological evolution has neither a purpose nor a direction. Nor is it a linear process that always leads to increased complexity. Natural selection is opportunistic; it improves the adaptation of organisms here and now, whether they are tigers or ticks, humans or intestinal worms. Considering this process in terms of "progress" is meaningless.

The list of conceptual traps that threaten our understanding of biological evolution is quite long. Students tend to think that animals evolve because they have chosen to do so, in response to a need. This is a form of spontaneous reasoning, called teleology, which our use of language reinforces. And it is completely incorrect. There is also a worrying tendency to confuse genetics and culture, for example, with the repeated use of the supposed "Barça DNA," an absurd idea that has nonetheless gained traction in sports media and appears constantly. To further complicate matters, these misconceptions are overshadowed by the so-called social DarwinismThis nefarious doctrine, which stems not from biology but from 19th-century sociological and economic thought, has sought to justify power, racism, and exploitation in our species as the result of a supposed natural law, which in its extreme formulation would be the law of the strongest. These are all misguided ideas, but they form part of the cultural fabric in which we live and which, to a greater or lesser degree, we unconsciously absorb.

Given the long list of common misconceptions and inaccuracies, educational experts emphasize introducing evolution in primary school, and at a very early age. The sooner students grasp accurate ideas about evolution, the smaller their burden of inaccurate concepts will be. At Boston University, for example, Professor Deborah Kelemen has developed several simple models of organisms that change as their environment changes. These are easily understood by children and demonstrate that basic evolutionary mechanisms can be grasped as early as age 9 or 10.

But in Catalonia, we're at the opposite extreme. The fact that the current curriculum, from 2022, ignores and marginalizes evolution is an anomaly that should be urgently corrected. First, because a lack of understanding of evolutionary concepts leaves people vulnerable to... fakesFirstly, because healers, supremacist ideologies, or magical worldviews. But secondly, because our students have the right to know the foundations of life on this planet. Which is to say, they have the right to understand the world they live in.