Is teaching natural selection “a mass-mind tool of financial interests”?

(The following is a slightly edited version of an article that appeared previously on The Panda’s Thumb.)

Have a look at this article from the Khan Academy, in particular the section entitled Natural Selection:

Darwin, evolution, & natural selection

What do you think? Is it a reasonably accurate and informative, if perhaps a bit bland and prosaic, summary of some of the key elements of the theory of evolution, suitable for the average high school student?

What if someone was to tell you that it is, instead, a “mass-mind tool of financial interests”, designed to indoctrinate unwitting students into accepting an outdated concept that is no longer accepted by modern science? That is the view of Suzan Mazur, who has written a scathing response to this seemingly benign article on her blog.

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