tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9008122866340502585.post642313353642775419..comments2024-03-24T05:50:07.033-07:00Comments on Biologizing: 13% of Biology Teachers Are Not Apolobiologizing for Their Beliefs:Peter Houlihanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00961900865379520219noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9008122866340502585.post-63196147583637559772011-02-06T19:42:07.129-08:002011-02-06T19:42:07.129-08:00While I agree that teachers may choose not to be i...While I agree that teachers may choose not to be inclined to evolution or religion due to outside pressures, I believe there is more to that decision. For some people, the choice of religion or evolution is simple, for others it can be a difficult choice. Many people had religious upbringings but were educated with knowledge of evolution. Since the poll taken was anonymously, teachers were likely being honest. The choice cannot always be a distinct or easy one to make. To be honest, I don't feel the personal opinions of a professional teacher should impact their ability to teach what they are supposed to. These kinds of articles never provide much true information, but just interesting facts or statistics. The evolution versus religion argument is a dead end road, so preference shouldn't matter.Liz Stanglenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9008122866340502585.post-38490833330702952842011-02-04T23:00:40.765-08:002011-02-04T23:00:40.765-08:00I'm not surprised at these statistics. Divisiv...I'm not surprised at these statistics. Divisive issues in this country can get extremely "hot", as in volatile and potentially dangerous. People are threatened and even murdered for taking sides in topics like evolution, abortion, and religion. Living in Massachusetts a hypothetical biology teacher may not feel much danger if he or she decides to teach evolution in a scientifically rigorous and accurate way, but consider if the same teacher were deep in the heart of a conservative state. Even if that teacher by some miracle could escape the regional "hivemind" beliefs and wanted to teach scientifically accurate evolution, they would still think twice about it simply because of how potentially enraged people around them could be. No one wants to needlessly risk their life, even for an important scientific issue. For more telling statistics, I would ask the same questions but in perhaps only the "blue" states. Or even better, rephrase the question to, "Do you *want* to be able to speak in favor of evolution in your classroom?"<br /><br />Posted by Derrick XuAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9008122866340502585.post-10655724220221054192011-02-04T20:49:59.963-08:002011-02-04T20:49:59.963-08:00I agree with what Marlena said. Teachers avoid the...I agree with what Marlena said. Teachers avoid the subject of Evolution because of laziness or because of a lack of passion in the subject. I think that if these teachers did take the time out to discuss these topics it would inspire more students to be more interested in science. Teachers these days in high school are far too concerned with having kids memorizing facts. I think if teachers worked more to allow kids to have opinions the level of science proficiency would rise.Jessica Kusmireknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9008122866340502585.post-82429822543637969622011-02-04T17:48:35.233-08:002011-02-04T17:48:35.233-08:00The thing I find most stunning about the statistic...The thing I find most stunning about the statistic indicating that 28% of schoolteachers speaking favorably of evolution is that it is actually lower than the percentage of Americans who believe in Naturalistic evolution (30%). Science teachers have the responsibility to raise the public understanding of science, not sink down to its level.<br />http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/02/usa_today_has_a_poll.php<br /><br />As the renowned biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky once said, 'Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution', and he's absolutely right. The theory of evolution by natural selection underlies all aspects of the modern biological and biomedical sciences. Still, in my high school, we only started covering evolution late in our second semester of biology, well after we had gone over topics such as DNA, cellular metabolism, genetics, histology, and ecology. What we weren’t told was that essentially everything we had been learning about the entire school year was only discovered by scientists due to predictions made by the theory evolution. Instead being taught evolution in September and learning about biology as a singular, unified, hard science, we were haphazardly tossed a seemingly disjointed and incoherent set of facts. If that is what it is like to go public school in one of the least religious and well-educated states in the US, I can barely begin to imagine what it must be for kids in the Midwest and South.Connor Finnertynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9008122866340502585.post-31684978291247260962011-02-04T13:51:03.935-08:002011-02-04T13:51:03.935-08:00If this article is referring to teachers in middle...If this article is referring to teachers in middle and high school, I am not surprised by this high percentage, especially in public schools. In places like these schools where teachers can be confronted about a controversial issue such as this, it may be crucial to avoid the subject in order to appease the parents of these students. While I understand this dilemma, I still believe that both options should be at least mentioned in the classroom so as to allow students to better understand what they are learning. I personally believe that evolution is indisputable, but this does not leave out the option for accepting evolution and believing in God. Many evolutionary scientists are religious in some way. I agree with Plutzer in that people should be able to talk about this issue in schools, but I can also see that in these times when more and more teachers are out of a job, it is necessary to keep controversy to a minimum.<br /><br />Posted by Marlena GrassoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9008122866340502585.post-25015458492172524092011-02-04T13:42:20.137-08:002011-02-04T13:42:20.137-08:00When I took an evolution course last year, my two ...When I took an evolution course last year, my two professors spent about half of a lecture talking about this same statistic and how it is interesting that so many scientists do not feel strongly one way or the other. They didn't elaborate as far as to explain why this trend is so one-sided. I guess I was fortunate to have a good biology teacher in high school because she made it clear that she believed in evolution and was able to explain it in a fairly unbiased way (if that makes any sense). I guess I would be labelled as one who supports Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.<br /><br />Posted by Kevin McLaughlinPeter Houlihanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961900865379520219noreply@blogger.com