Study: 16 Percent of U.S. Science Teachers Are Creationists

How sad is thus? Doesn't instill a lot of confidence in our teachers, does it?


By BOB HOLMES
May 21, 2008

Despite a court-ordered ban on the teaching of creationism in U.S. schools, about one in eight high-school biology teachers still teach it as valid science, a survey reveals. And, although almost all teachers also taught evolution, those with less training in science -- and especially evolutionary biology -- tend to devote less class time to Darwinian principles.

US courts have repeatedly decreed that creationism and intelligent design are religion, not science, and have no place in school science classrooms. But no matter what courts and school boards decree, it is up to teachers to put the curriculum into practice.

"Ultimately, they are the ones who carry it out," says Michael Berkman, a political scientist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. But what teachers actually teach about evolution and creationism in their classrooms is a bit of a grey area, so Berkman and his colleagues decided to conduct the first-ever national survey on the subject.

The researchers polled a random sample of nearly 2,000 high-school science teachers across the U.S. in 2007. Of the 939 who responded, 2 percent said they did not cover evolution at all, with the majority spending between 3 and 10 classroom hours on the subject.

However, a quarter of the teachers also reported spending at least some time teaching about creationism or intelligent design. Of these, 48 percent -- about 12.5 percent of the total survey -- said they taught it as a "valid, scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species".

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4895114&page=1

Seriously, what does it even mean to teach creationism?

You say, "God did it," and that's the end of the lesson?

Again we lead the world!

but you know they're coming.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/042408dntexcreationscience2.917bf873.html

Seriously though, in some religious realms, women especially are encouraged to go into teaching for purposes that basically amount to indoctrination (got to balance the scales against the evils of secular society).

For most high school biology teachers, the most advanced college biology course they take is probably junior-level. You can get a B- or whatever middling grade you need on a biology exam without actually believing what you're being tested on.

and still not understand just how beautiful the theory of evolution really is.
Maybe high school science teachers should require more advanced degrees.

American public understands that it is being cheated, things will get worse. I am not holding my breath for better days.

becoming one of those religious fundamental radicalist nations that we claim the need to defend ourselves against, the ones we call "terrorists".