Evolutionary reluctance
In the most recent issue of Penn State’s Research magazine, which I receive because I’m a member of the National Association of Science Writers, there was a little article that caught my eye. It was titled “High school biology teachers reluctant to endorse evolution in class.”
I find this concept somewhat shocking. According to the article, “the majority of public high school biology teachers are not strong classroom advocates of evolutionary biology … despite forty years of court cases that have ruled that teaching creationism or intelligent design violates the U.S. Constitution.” Worse yet, 13% of teachers “explicitly advocate creationism or intelligent design.”
Now, for a bit of background … I have a degree in Biology and am a trained science writer. So, yes, I believe in evolutionary biology. The evidence is stacked up in its favor. And, yes, I think that creationism and intelligent design are complete bunk and I would rather not have teachers share them as viable options.
If we are going to be competitive in the global economy, we need to have a scientifically literate populace. And that’s not going to happen if kids aren’t taught the scientific method and are led to believe that evolutionary biology doesn’t have its merits.
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