DIRECTIONS: Read the assignment prompt. Use the material in the right pane to review the sources and your answers from the Inquiry page, by selecting a source and then using the tabs. Compose your answer in the box on the left. Use the email form to send your answer to your instructor.
ASSIGNMENT: The Scopes trial is most commonly remembered as a dramatic clash between those who believed in evolution and those who believed that God created the world in seven days. However, the controversy surrounding the Scopes trial was, in fact, more complicated. How was the controversy surrounding the Scopes trial more complicated than a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists?
COMPOSE ESSAY ANSWER:
REVIEW THE NOTEBOOK:
American Federation of Teachers' Statement
The American Federation of Teachers released a statement in support of John Scopes. As you read, think about their reasons for supporting him.
The American Federation of Teachers is deeply concerned about the effect of the Tennessee anti-evolution law. . . .
Teaching . . . has been menaced . . . by misguided legislative authority that fears to trust the intelligence, the public spirit and the devotion . . . of [teachers]. . . .
As teachers we especially fear the effect of the present wave of intolerance in education on the task of providing the schools with enlightened teachers. Without freedom in the intellectual life, and without the inspiration of uncensored discovery and discussion, there could ultimately be no scholarship, no schools at all and no education.