Unspoken Assumptions in
Public School Curriculum
By Steve Skaggs
IN
ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S CLASSIC 1958 film,
Vertigo, 1 Scottie Ferguson (played by James Stewart)
finds himself at a coroner’s inquest after a woman’s death.
The coroner (Henry Jones) implies, none too subtly, that
the woman’s death was Scottie’s fault. Why? Because “he
did nothing.” He then adds, “The law has little to say on the
subject of things left undone.”
In other words, people can be guilty of wrongdoing not
only by being active but often by being passive—by not
doing what could have been done to prevent harm. Wheth-
er we agree with the coroner’s hard-hearted assessment of
Scottie’s inaction in the film, there is truth in the coroner’s
implications: inaction can lead to great harm.
That’s true everywhere in life—including in our children’s
education. Many times, the problems with secular textbooks
are not in what they say but in what they fail to say. Perhaps
a few examples will serve to illustrate this.
SCIENCE
Surely, no group of textbooks is an easier target for criticism
than secular science books, with their evolutionary and
humanistic assumptions. Our purpose here, though, is not
16
to attack them on those grounds. It is not to “attack” them at
all but to show instead how such assumptions can leave out
critically important information.
As Ken Ham (CEO and founder of Answers in Gene-
sis-US) has said, “Creationists and evolutionists, Christians
and non-Christians all have the same evidence—the same
facts. Think about it: we all have the same earth, the same
fossil layers, the same animals and plants, the same stars—
the facts are all the same. The difference is in the way we all
interpret the facts. And why do we interpret facts different-
ly? Because we start with different presuppositions. These are
things that are assumed to be true, without being able to
prove them. These then become the basis for other conclu-
sions. All reasoning is based on presuppositions (also called
axioms). This becomes especially relevant when dealing
with past events.” 2 You may see the truth of Ham’s statement
here referenced in a Christian science textbook, but you will
never see it alluded to in a secular one. It’s left unsaid.
Here’s an example of how bias works its way into secu-
lar materials. One life science text opens a chapter with a
fascinating two-page spread showing bee orchids, flowers
that look amazingly like bees. The text asks, “What is the