Abstract
In almost any basic course dealing with evolution, much of the presentation deals with mutations, natural selection, and population genetics. The material is presented in such a way as to look as if the genetic mechanisms of evolution are an understood phenomena, that there are few unsolved problems of any consequence, and any past problems have been resolved since the discovery of Mendelian genetics. The true situation is depicted much more accurately by the following statement by Richard C. Lewontin, Professor of Zoology at Harvard University, and one of the leading population geneticists in the world: "The theory (of population genetics as applied to evolution) becomes a vacuous exercise in formal logic that has no points of contact with the contingent world. The theory explains nothing because it explains everything. It is my contention that a good deal of the structure of evolutionary genetics comes perilously close to being this sort." The student is conditioned by information that is entirely out of context when applied to the theory of evolution. The fraternity has conveyed to the public ideas which have no root in actuality.