Me: And so, why would have human brains evolved this way? Why would this trait have been advantageous?
Student: I DON'T BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! GOD! YOU ARE LIKE ALL THE OTHER SCIENCE TEACHERS!!!!
(silence)
Me: Errr..... yeah? Probably.
(class titters)
Next day. Still talking about the brain.
Me: Okay, so now what evidence do we have that humans' brains evolved this way? What were we doing for hundreds of thousands of years that would have led to this adaptation?
Same Kid: NOOOOO!!! YOU CANT MAKE ME! EVOLUTION ISNT TRUE. I DONT BELIEVE IT!
Me: Yeah. Okay. Um. So, here's the thing. You don't have to like evolution, but one day, it's really good for you to UNDERSTAND the idea. You haven't had genetics yet. You haven't talked about mutations or natural selection or any other number of things. Science isn't about belief, its about data, and evidence. In order to argue against something, you have to know what that something REALLY means. And most people, not even people your age, but MOST people, have a huge, huge amount of misconceptions about evolution. They believe all SORTS of crazy stuff that is NOT the theory of evolution. So, all I want you to do now, is accept that there are probably a bunch of things you don't know, wait until you understand the concept, and then, maybe we can talk. Until then, how about no more screaming at me? That'd be cool.
Kid: FINE.
Yikes.
