--- On Wed, 5/21/08, Steven L. Robinson <srobin21 at comcast.net> wrote:
> From: Steven L. Robinson <srobin21 at comcast.net>
> Subject: [lbo-talk] 1 in 8 US High School Biology teachers still teach creationism
> To: "speakup" <SpeakUp at groups.msn.com>, progchat_action at yahoogroups.com, politics at topica.com, lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org, "BBG" <Bush_Be_Gone at yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 1:13 AM
> Many High School Biology Teachers Still Teach Creationism
>
> Brandon Keim
> Wired Science
> May 19, 2008
>
> One in eight U.S. high school teachers presents creationism
> as a valid
> alternative to evolution, says a poll published in the
> Public Library of
> Science Biology.
>
> Of more than 900 teachers who responded to a poll conducted
> by Penn State
> University political scientist Michael Berkman and
> colleagues, 32 percent
> agreed that creationism and intelligent design should be
> taught as
> scientifically unsound. Forty percent said such
> explanations are religiously
> valid but inappropriate for science class.
>
> However, 25 percent said they devoted classroom time to
> creationism or
> intelligent design. Of these, about one-half -- 12 percent
> of all
> teachers -- called creationism a "valid scientific
> alternative to Darwinian
> explanations for the origin of species," and the same
> number said that "many
> reputable scientists view these as valid alternatives to
> Darwinian theory."
> (The full study makes for interesting reading: Evolution
> and Creationism in
> America's Classrooms: A National Portrait.
>
> Longtime Wired Science readers know that I'm less
> bothered than many science
> writers at the possibility of evolution being under-taught
> in science and
> biology courses. So long as a teacher imparts a sense of
> wonder and
> curiosity, the details will follow. However, teaching
> creationism or
> intelligent design alongside evolution, as if religious
> explanations had
> even a fraction of the scientific validity of evolution, is
> unacceptable --
> it promotes fatally flawed, uncritical thinking.
>
> What to do?
>
> The study's authors note that courtroom victories --
> classroom creationism
> has consistently been struck down in U.S. courts -- is
> apparently
> insufficient to guarantee an accurate depiction of
> evolution. Nor will
> rigorous state science standards, like those recently
> passed in Florida, do
> the trick. Instead they recommend teacher certification
> requiring the
> completion of an evolutionary biology course.
>
> Seems like a good idea to me.
>
> ***************
>
> Full at
> http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/one-in-eight-hi.html
>
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