I know of several biology teachers at several public schools who will not *touch * evolution in class–not because they themselves are opposed to the concept, but to avoid trouble. The very mention of the E-word is like a red flag to a vocal section of parents. These teachers may–or may not–tiptoe around the subject with something like “so these lungfish-like critters became the first amphibians” or “this was the first animal to have a chambered heart.” But even if they do allude to change, they won’t tie humans into the picture; otherwise, they are setting themselves up for angry phone calls and complaints to the principal and the school board.
And that got me thinking: I remember reading about evolution in my high school biology textbook, but I don’t remember learning about the concept in class, or having any relevant assignments. My husband remembers first learning about it in his college bio class–a real Eureka moment for him. This is all going on in blue states, by the way.
Former high school students: did your biology class cover evolution? When was this, and in what state? And for that matter, did your earth and space science courses deal with things like the origin and age of the universe? Public or private school?
Current students and parents of students: learning evolution? Where? In what type of school?
Science teachers: Do you cover evolution, or any other socially controversial topic such as the age of the earth? In what depth? What state and what type of school? Have you ever had trouble with a student or parent, and how did you deal with it?
I remember learning evolution in middle school. IIRC, two theories were presented - one stating that animals could change drastically from one generation to the next based on need (the example involved giraffes eating leaves high in the trees) vs natural selection.
Ironically, my very first memory of evolution is one from my Catholic School religion class. We were being taught the Adam and Eve story, and I suddenly I thought “Wait! What about dinosaurs? Where do THEY fit in?” I had no idea it was such a controversy - and indeed, in 1978 I don’t believe it WAS nearly the controversy it is now - and asked the dear old Irish nun who was teaching what the deal was. She answered me “Adam and Eve were the first TRUE humans.”
I was happy with that. I figured that the whole seven day creation thing was an allegory, dinosaurs fit in there somewhere, and Adam and Eve were the first non-ape humans. It worked for me.
Back in the 60s in New York, we were taught evolution, though supposedly the teacher had to say some sort of disclaimer that it hadn’t been absolutely proven. Our teacher mentioned it as a requirement then went on to teach the basics as though there was no issue. We looked upon the law as a quaint leftover from an unenlightened time. Little did we know . . . :rolleyes:
I attended Catholic grammar school (first through eighth grade) and Catholic high school in New York City. I vaguely remember being introduced to the idea evolution first at home, then in grammar school, and then in high school. Never do I remember hearing that there was even a whiff of controversy about this, not from my practicing Catholic parents, from the nuns in grammar school, or from the priests in high school.
I went to public school in Illinois and studyied evolution long before high school. By the time we got to high school, it was understood that we knew the basic theory, and we just got down to business cutting up nematodes and other critters.
From what I remember, natural selection the slow way (a la Darwin) was emphasized with puncuated (something…equilibrium, maybe?) mentioned as “another theory some people used to hold, but it’s obviously silly.” There was also lots of talk about how if you cut off a rat’s tail, its babies would *not * be born tailless.
I went to a Catholic high school. Please note that the Roman Catholic Church has no problem with the idea of evolution or natural selection, though it does insist that 1) the process is driven by God and 2) the human soul was a separate, special creation and does not evolve.
Fair enough. Someone forgot to tell my biology teacher this, however, because he said he wouldn’t teach it: “Your parents might get mad at me if I do.” Teaching biology, to him, meant giving us long lists of animals and their special characteristics to memorize, and making passes at fourteen year old girls. Did I mention I hated biology?
Fortunately, our anatomy teacher three years later got the memo, and inserted some evolution-in-a-nutshell lessons into the curriculum. Also, our religion teachers (!) made sure we knew what biologists do and do not say about evolution (e.g. nobody believes humans evolved from modern apes), and what the RCC has to say on the matter.
My older son attends a Montessori elementary school. Around third or fourth grade they studied evolution with an emphasis on the origin of man, in enough detail that he knows Neanderthals were not the ancestors of modern humans.
Elementary School in south Georgia (Valdosta/Lowndes County), 1960s, live Bible readings by the teachers in public schools despite court decisions supposedly making that impossible. In science class evolution was taught as factual. Little fishies climbing up on land and evolving into amphibians, those giving rise to reptiles and therefore dinosaurs, mammals arising later, culminating in us. Not accurate in light of what we know now, and definitely oversimplified, but they used the word. Also a little sidebar about the Scopes trial and the silly foolish folks back then who tried to oppose it, akin to the church making Galileo recant his astronomical discoveries.
The problem exists primarily, IMHO, in public schools. Public schools must, by definition, either be all things to all people or nothing to anyone. They can’t teach just evolution without alienating some religious groups and they can’t teach “intelligent design” without alienating secular groups (and, depending on what brand of intelligent design they teach, some of the religious groups). The slope toward irrelevancy of public schooling is well greased.
My kids go to a non-denominational, Christian school. They begin learning about the theory of evolution in about the 4th grade. Of course, intelligent design is covered from grade one. My middle school age son can intelligently discuss evolution, adaptation, and natural selection and where each fits in his faith pertaining to the Genesis creation account.
and I suppose that if we all of the sudden found out that we were created from organic matter that was blown through space from a distant planet, or that aliens had bred us in captivity to start a colony here, the Catholic church would say that it was driven by God as well, huh?
“these are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others.”
-Groucho Marx
I went to high school in rural Ohio in the 1980s. We had an excellent biology teacher. Oddly, we covered the origins theories in some detail (spontaneous generation, the “primordial soup”, the Miller-Urey experiment), but natural selection and macroevolution were presented as “only a theory”. One would expect the Bible-beaters to have a bigger problem with the naturalistic origins theories than with macroevolution.
Our teacher then did something that most of the kids found completely baffling. On the day we had the “just a theory” talk, he showed us this weird little silent film loop (remember film loops?) that was basically an animated demonstration of evolution. Various fish were born with leglike appendages, crawled out of the sea, and reproduced on land, giving birth to new creatures with better-formed legs, wings, etc. The film ran very fast and was sort of whimsically animated (no real animals - the creatures looked like space aliens) and just as I “got” it, it was over. Maybe two or three other kids in the class “got” it. He shut off the projector and that was the end of evolution. We then went into anatomy and physiology.
Does anyone remember seeing this film loop? I’d like to get a copy.
Australian, fairly exclusive private school, ostensibly Anglican but in reality, mostly secular.
Did our first “real” biology course in Year 8, evolution simply, wasn’t a controversy. We just dived right in, start out with the Linnean classification and went on from there. Evolution literally formed the entire cornerstone of our biological teachings and, even though I’m more a physics person, that semester was probably the one that changed my outlook on science the most.
AFAIK, Evolution simply isn’t regarded as a controversy in Australia, I think there was some news a while back about a christian private tasmanian school causing some ruckus by teaching creationism but I’ve never even heard it being seriously suggested as part of the public school curriculum.
I couldn’t imagine how a biology course could be taught in such a neutered manner, nothing makes sense without evolution.
I dealt with evolution in high school, and possibly (my memories aren’t that great on that ground) in 7th or 8th grade as well. Public schools, Sacramento (CA).
I went to a catholic high school. I don’t remember evolution being covered in in freshman biology, but we had it in AP. The prof for AP bio was actually a visiting professor from a nearby university. He was Jewish, and believed all the stories of super-strict nuns wielding yardsticks and such. He was afraid the administration might’ve been fundamentalist or something, so when it was time to discuss evolution, he closed the classroom door and talked quietly.
I don’t think he had anything to worry about, but then again the school never seemed to say anything one way or another regarding evolution. shrug
I’m a science technician in a high school, so I probably fall under this category.
We teach evolution. We tell the kids that the organisms most suited to their environment will be the ones that thrive and can pass on their genes. Age of the Earth? Why would this be held back? It’s millions of years old - we can tell this by the age of the rocks around us, etc. We’ve never had any trouble from parents AFAIK.
I graduated last year from a secular private school. On the first day of class my biology teacher announced that he was going to prove that God didn’t exist. He stood in the center of the room for five minutes and said “if God exists he’ll kill me right now.” And of course my teacher survived and explained that religion and God are outside what can be prooved by science, etc, and that our class dealt with science.
We learned a lot about evolution, wrote papers on punctuated equilibrium, and drew lots of diagrams that were like species family trees. No one ever had a problem.