The battle over the theories of Evolution vs. Intelligent Design has raged since Charles Darwin unveiled his concepts more than 200 years ago.

Recently, OCCC students, faculty and administration have joined the fight thanks to a choice by adjunct Biology Professor Mike Talkington who allegedly taught students Intelligent Design during his class this spring semester.

Intelligent Design roots lie in the ideas such as Earth is only about 6,000 years old, and humans were created by an intelligent entity and did not evolve from lower life forms.

College administrators say Talkington is within his rights to teach what he wants in his class as long as he meets all course objectives.

However, in his online blog at http://jadeneternal.wordpress.com, student Bryan Walker said Talkington mostly disregarded the evolutionary theory and chose to promote Intelligent Design.

He said the teacher did it behind closed doors in what seemed to be an attempt to hide that the theory was being promoted. He questioned why a scientist would teach such a controversial subject in a college class.

The real question should not be why Talkington taught Intelligent Design. Rather, it should be: why shouldn’t he? After all, Talkington teaches both Intelligent Design and evolution in his class.He is not violating college policy nor shortchanging students of knowledge.

Instead, he’s truly educating the students by showing them both sides. In high school, students are taught nothing but the evolutionary viewpoint for science.

When they get to college and take a biology course, there is probably not a lot of new information they will learn if professors keep to the evolution script. But, allowing Talkington to teach both views will create well-rounded students who will be better informed and better able to understand their chosen fields or argue their views.