Creationism In US High Schools: 16 Percent Of US Science Teachers Are Creationists

ABC News reports on the findings of a study that concluded 16% of U.S. science teachers are Creationists, and that, disturbingly, one in eight are teaching creationism as a valid science:

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...

...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".

Related: Ben Stein: Front Man for Creationism's Manufactroversy

Comments

[rkx13]

Science and religion make a strange pair
A balanced human being today should have allot of science and a little religion
Darwin was a careful and thoughtful investigator
People without science has already been tried
They are called cavemen
Do you really want to try that again?
We seem to be headed that way

[research]

Creationist are insulating God!

Is god too weak or stupid to have created evolution?

[Ddorsey]

I'm in High school, and I can tell you that about 25% of us are agnostic/aethiest, and that's being modest. They're just too scared to "come out" to their parents, but in 15-25 years there will be a trend of a lot more.

[ElPerro]

“The priests of the different religious sects…dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight, and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subdivision of the duperies on which they live.”
- Thomas Jefferson

[MrJoyboy]

That's appropriate because judging from the polls, 50% of Americans are idiots.

[Tamas]

Science is a process of curiosity and investigation neither of which is associated with creationism which is merely acceptance.

[dukeitout]

I recall months ago in one of the early Republican debates (2008 Presidential) all 5 or 6 candidates except Paul, summarily rejected evolution as a valid scientific theory. Ole McCain timidly raised his hand to reject evolution. So did Romney and the rest of the "intelligent design" politicos. Sadly, there are science teachers that put their religious dogma ahead of their science. Some of these teachers are very intelligent but let their stubborness trump their intellect. Maybe they have presidential ambitions.

[RichardRoe]

If you mean the first Republican debate, then no, only Brownback, Huckabee and Tancredo raised their hands. Paul later said that he _doesn't_ accept evolution. Romney elaborated that he does indeed belief in evolution. McCain, well, as always you don't know exactly where he stands on the issue, but he didn't raise his hand.

[gnomic]

No wonder America is losing its place as the leader in innovation. We have stupid people teaching our kids stupid things rather than science. That's the kind of stupidity that puts a complete moron in the White House.

the shame of it.

[RealityBaseCamp]

I guess it's to be expected. Creationists have majored in various disciplines in order to get credentials so they can denounce the practice of objectively evaluating all the evidence. Nothing like a science degree after your name to sell your antiscience book. It figures that some of them go into teaching just so they can influence young minds and close a few which would otherwise have been open.

[RuralLib]

Sorry for not proofreading. I do know how to spell "retired".

[RuralLib]

Who hires teachers? School boards (seldom from the scientific community) do, based upon the recommendation of administrators (rarely having any real foundation in science), and influenced by local politics, friendships and family relationships. I am a reitired biology teacher from a rural public high school. I was present at interviews where successful candidates presented credentials from "Christian" colleges and proudly included teaching Sunday school classes on resumes.
It is my opinion that there has been a movement by the conservative religious right to prepare teachers at their favored institutions and send them out to promote creationism (in its various disguises) in public schools. Am I paranoid?

[ElPerro]

This makes perfect sense. Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition began a project about two decades ago to begin placing "stealth" candidates in local positions of power such as school boards by getting them to hide their wingnuttetry until AFTER they were well established in their positions. We could be seeing the results of his successes.

[MajorKong]

Maybe we should have some scientists teaching theology then.....

[browndog2]

If you believe God created the world inwhich you live you're a "dogmatic Christian extremist".

"i know for a fact God didn't create the Earth".

"Fictional characters don't create anything".

[chinohillster]

WHY is there psychological resistance to evolution?

It is too easy, too facile to attribute this resistance to ideology, culture, politics or lack of education. I think science is absoulutely _marvelous_ - I love watching scientific programs, reading scientific books and the like.

Yet I also believe in God, an N-dimensional being who, through evolutionary processes, created the world over time (what is 12-16 billion years to an eternal, infinite Being?) I have no problem with Darwin, and I have no problem with Scripture, because they are not mutually exclusive to me.

Science tells me that the Earth is in the right zone from its sun, with plate tectonics, other processes in operation to retain oxygen and liquid water, a large Moon in tidal lock, and a large Jupiter to keep most extinction-level asteroids from the Earth (most, not all). Science tells me of the similarity between all living beings, their form and function, and how they operate.

A belief in God, for me, fills the gap between Planck Time (10 to the minus 43 after the Big Bang) and the singularity, the point beyond which the GUTs (Grand Unified Theories) tend to break down. A belief in God tells me that the Universe has a design, a purpose, and an imprint, much like a fine product of the Bayerische Motoren Werke.... (ha)

I think science should be taught in science classes, with intellectual rigor. I think questions of origins are for the philosophy class...

[radmul]

What created god?

[drblack]

They aren't science teachers.
I am sure everyone of them is a dogmatic christian extremists.
Do they teach the alien seeding idea? The Flying Spaghetti Monster idea?
Science has nothing to do with belief.
Most of those who believe in creationism have never actually read and researched on Evolution and think Darwin wrote the Origin of Life instead of "The Origin of Species".
Science is a method and process to determine what is fact; creationism doesn't hold up to scientific evaluation.
Many religious people accept evolution but you won't find any but the christian extremists who accept creationism because there is no science to back it up.