Title: The Battle to Teach Evolution in Public Schools Is Far From Over
Headings: The Battle to Teach Evolution in Public Schools Is Far From Over
The Battle to Teach Evolution in Public Schools Is Far From Over
It's 2017, and this is still an issue.
The Monkey Law
Evolution Alternatives
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Content: These include biblical creationism, scientific creationism, and intelligent design — all of which, to varying extents, teach that life on Earth did not arise solely through evolution. There are also those who have lobbied for teachers to have the ability to teach evolution in a way that presents it as being scientifically controversial: this gross misrepresentation of established scientific data and hard evidence has alarmed some science educators even more than the outright rejection of the concept. While laws that enforce the teaching of evolution “alternatives” have not successfully passed, since 2004 three states have passed legislation permitting teachers to teach evolution in a way that frames it as being scientifically controversial. Advertisement
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While it may be controversial socially, evolution is not a controversial topic within the science community: a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 98 percent of scientists believe in evolution. Among the general public, one third of Americans reject evolution outright. Even more, over half of those who reject it say they don’t think scientists agree on evolution, and even among the general public — regardless of personal views on evolution — nearly 30 percent perceive a level of disagreement among scientists on the topic. These beliefs persist despite the statistics that indicate scientists do agree on evolution. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), while it recognizes the long history of controversy, does not condone the teaching of concurrent “alternatives” with the teaching of evolution, nor do they condone the misrepresentative teaching of evolution as being scientifically dubious.