A Crisis in American Biology Classrooms

 

Picture from Baloo's Cartoon Blog

This should be alarming to all who love science and truthfullness in education:

Researchers found that only 28 percent of biology teachers consistently follow the recommendations of the National Research Council to describe straightforwardly the evidence for evolution and explain the ways in which it is a unifying theme in all of biology. At the other extreme, 13 percent explicitly advocate creationism, and spend at least an hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.

That leaves what the authors call “the cautious 60 percent,” who avoid controversy by endorsing neither evolution nor its unscientific alternatives. In various ways, they compromise.

It is one thing for teachers to want to avoiding offending the beliefs of students, but it should not come at the expense of the truth.  End of discussion!