James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
One in eight. Is that low enough? Not according to the authors of a new paper in PLoS Biology who conducted the "first nationally representative survey of teachers concerning the teaching of evolution." They did come up with some optimistic data, though. When asked to describe the role, or lack thereof, in human's development over the ages, 28% said it was solely evolution. That's more than twice the rate for the population at large (13%).
But overall, it still makes for depressing reading. Many of the teachers teaching biology don't have much instruction themselves in the subject. Those who had taken a course on evolution were more likely to spend more class time on the subject. The authors, referring to the 2005 Kitzmiller court decision that forbids the teaching of intelligent design in Pennsylvania's Middle District public schools, conclude that
... requiring all teachers to complete a course in evolutionary biology would have a substantial impact on the emphasis on evolution and its centrality in high school biology courses. In the long run, the impact of such a change could have a more far reaching effect than the victories in courts and in state governments.And I can't think of anything else to say other than: ya think?
Life Science
Comments
On the one hand, Biology teachers should be the impenetrable bastion of evolution. On the other hand...
I think maybe the panic about creationism is overblown. I remember just twenty years ago, when I was a kid, "God created the world" was just the way it was done. I wasn't from a particularly religious family, but it was one of those things like "Jupiter is big"- neither questioned nor terribly important or even relevant, just sort of taken for granted.
It got questioned when went apostate, got replaced when I went biology. And given that religion really is still the "default" in this country, and a solid biology education is not, wouldn't you expect the vast majority to be creationists?
Even if very passive ones.
So I guess 82% is a pretty good number. And I wonder- were they just questioning public schoolteachers, or were private schools involved? Because I did private tutoring for rich kids to pay the bills in college, and those "Private schools" all have two intersecting themes- upper class people dodging the poor, and religious indoctrination. Some even hire based on it, and those rare creationist biologists are naturally drawn to a non-public school where they won't have to deal with public-school curriculum standards.
So effectively private school biology classes are a potential breeding ground for rich creationists. And I'm wondering what portion of that 18% is there.
Posted by: John | May 22, 2008 10:54 AM
Evolutionary biology...hmmm... what is this subject about?
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Reply me with the total cost for 14 days tutor (1 hr daily at your convenient time)
Thanks and God Bless You
jeff.
Posted by: jeff | August 18, 2008 12:45 PM