13% of US High School Biology Teachers Teach Creationism Myth

Thirteen percent of US high school biology teachers “explicitly advocate creationism or intelligent design” to their students, a study has found. This may sound shocking until you consider that 40% of Americans believe in creationism, the theory that “god” made the universe and everything in it. US Christians, especially those who believe that the Bible is the literal word of “god,” believe that this happened less than 10,000 years ago. Their views stand in vivid contrast to those of the overwhelming majority of the world’s scientists, who believe that human beings (and all other earthly creatures) evolved from a single unicellular ancestor as many as 3.7 billion years ago.

Still, many American teachers are wary of teaching evolution as the most likely scientific explanation. Some fear conflict with students, parents or even school administrators. Others– 14%, according to this new study– believe in creationism themselves. This is shocking, not because a teacher’s beliefs should preclude him/her from being allowed to teach. After all, there are plenty of history teachers out there who probably despise one political party or another yet are perfectly capable of presenting a more or less balanced account of  US political history to their classes. The problem with teaching evolution and creationism objectively is that it gives the false impression that the two arguments are equally valid. The overwhelming global scientific consensus says they are not. The danger here is that teachers are mis-educating our children.

The study’s authors, Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer, believe that teacher ignorance plays an important role. “Our general sense is they lack the knowledge and confidence to go in there and teach evolution, which makes them risk averse” Plutzer told Livescience.

For all those teachers out there who haven’t heard, natural selection-driven evolution is by far the most logical  explanation for the earth’s awe-inspiring diversity. On this almost every scientist agrees. There are around 480,000 American scientists working in the fields of earth and life sciences. Of these, only around 700, or 0.15%,  believe in creation. Leave the US and that miniscule percentage shrinks even more. The only reason evolution is still called a theory is because scientific law requires absolute certainty, and absolute certainty in science, unlike religion, which relies heavily upon blind faith, is the result of careful research and critical thought. In science, empirical evidence is of paramount importance. And while there is absolutely zero evidence to validate creationism, year after year the pieces of the puzzle of evolution are being found, sorted out and fitted into place. But all of the pieces have yet to be found, so evolution remains a theory. Just like gravity.

 

 

 

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