# Should a student be downgraded for mentioning I.D. on a biology test? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878 "2007-12-13T17:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/81 "2007-12-15T17:38:47Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Yet, in spite of those, :rolleyes: planes keep flying! [/QUOTE] But what’s the analog to “planes keep flying” when it comes to evolution? How do you practically test a theory of evolution so that you can say, “See? That’s shows that it works, whether we completely understand how or not.” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/82 "2007-12-15T17:47:21Z")
Tacking on an argument that’s unsupported, no matter what it is, is poor writing. She could have tacked on a perfectly non-controversial two sentences about a fresh topic and still had points deducted because the new section is not integrated with the response or elaborated by examples or discussion. **My Essay about Cats** Cats come from x, y, z Example Example Some speculate, however, that blah blah, blah Elaboration Example However, mitochondrial squee studies show Blah, blah Thus demonstrating definitively that cats are from outer space. Some people like puppies. There’s no reason not to love a puppy. The End. By Shoshana ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/83 "2007-12-15T18:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] But if you began by writing the correct answer and ended with “but I think it was space aliens.” You’ve learned the facts that the teacher wanted to impart and you’ve shown that you can come up with that information on request. That you’re a complete loon shouldn’t have an effect on your grade. [/QUOTE] This sums up my opinion nicely. Also, I can’t help wondering what part of the story we’re not getting. If the question was “Write 200 words about about the relationship between beneficial mutation and evolutionary change” and she wrote 170 cogent and persuasive words about it and then tacked on the other I.D. stuff to pad the word count I think reducing the grade is valid. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/84 "2007-12-15T22:17:27Z")
I side with the professor too, on both counts, comment is irrelavent, and points should be deducted, it’s a _SCIENCE_ course, not a Divinities course ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/85 "2007-12-15T22:32:18Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] But what’s the analog to “planes keep flying” when it comes to evolution? How do you practically test a theory of evolution so that you can say, “See? That’s shows that it works, whether we completely understand how or not.” [/QUOTE] I would say **Diogenes’** post #80 answers that pretty darn goodly. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/86 "2007-12-16T03:40:17Z")
[QUOTE=j666] (If any one does know the answer to (1) above, I really would like to know.) [/QUOTE] Radial symmetry is more likely to be selected for in a sessile creature, which has to wait for food to come to it. Since one cannot always be sure from which direction said food will come, the more directions one “faces” at once, the more likely one will be to actually get some of that food. > [@Voyager](#): > > In any case, the fact that there is not consensus on some of the details (which I’d hope he would mention anyway) does not in any way support her statement that evolution is controversial. That evolution occurs is not controversial (even to IDists). Evolution is, if anything, more an observation than a theory. The mechanisms and details of many processes which make up the actual theories, however, often are controversial. I don’t accept Dawkins’ “selfish gene” theory, and I accept Gould & Eldredge’s Punctuated Equilibirum theory. I feel that there is more to macroevolution than simply microevolution writ large. Obviously, there are those who disagree with me, even here on this board. Those are but a few of the controversies within the field. And there are certainly unknowns, as well. That is perfectly in line with “various issues of evolution remain unexplained and or controversial”. > [@Musicat](#): > > This was not an original thought by the student, but a parroted reply derived directly from Creationist propaganda. Most, if not all, of the responses to any given test are not original ideas by students… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/87 "2007-12-16T06:02:41Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] But what’s the analog to “planes keep flying” when it comes to evolution? How do you practically test a theory of evolution so that you can say, “See? That’s shows that it works, whether we completely understand how or not.” [/QUOTE] Besides what **Diogenes the Cynic** said, there’s such things as the evolution of drug resistance in bacteria, and evolution in general witnessed in all sorts of wildlife. And there’s the fact that the known nature of life; variable heredity combined with differing rates of reproduction according to that heredity, pretty much mandates some sort of evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/88 "2007-12-16T15:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=Darwin’s Finch] > [@Musicat](#): > > This was not an original thought by the student, but a parroted reply derived directly from Creationist propaganda. Most, if not all, of the responses to any given test are not original ideas by students… [/QUOTE] But they are supposed to come from the teacher and course materials, not outside influences. I meant to say that the student didn’t just think that up; it wasn’t generated solely by personal doubts during class study. The wording of her statement suggests that she heard that from a particular ID/Creationist argument outside the class and repeated it without giving it much thought. That’s what “parroted” means to me. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878/89 "2007-12-16T18:39:26Z")
The whole point of answering a question is knowing what is the answer to the question and what isn’t the answer. If you answer a question with something that isn’t the answer, you have given the wrong answer. Q: Why is the sky blue? A: Blah blah Rayleigh scattering… and CHEESE! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-a-student-be-downgraded-for-mentioning-i-d-on-a-biology-test/429878.md?page=4)