Bueller, Bueller, Bueller

I found the controversy about Ben Stein speaking at UVM’s commencement very interesting. To me Ben Stein had always been nothing more than the teacher in Ferris Bueller’s day off



I was surprised to hear that he was very active in science (although many disagree), and he had even made his own documentary, Expelled, about intelligent design. After hearing about the controversy I thought I would watch the movie to see what had everyone so upset. Here’s a clip from the movie.



I like that Ben Stein is questioning the norms of society and presenting an argument to a topic that is anything but certain. Growing up I always believed evolution to be true because it was taught to me as if it was. In middle school and high school science classes my teachers taught evolution as if there were no doubts about it, and looking back I think that was wrong. I have no idea what should be taught in schools, but to me teaching evolution isn’t far from teaching religious views on creation. Evolution seems to work perfectly in a society that has a constant thirst for answers. How did we come to be? There was a big explosion out of nowhere and then we evolved from single celled organisms. Tada. That answer seems to be much more satisfying than responding with “no one knows.”

I had my quams with evolution before watching Expelled, and I don’t agree with everything Ben Stein says in the movie either, but it’s refreshing to see people questioning the way things are instead of being content with the theory of evolution.