# Poll: how many high schools really teach evolution? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050 "2004-11-16T13:26:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/21 "2004-11-16T22:00:58Z")
80s, Canada, and every school I attended taught evolution - including two Catholic schools. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/22 "2004-11-16T22:01:01Z")
When fundementalists say that they want equal time given to Intelligent Design, what do they actually want the teacher to do? Evolution has a lot of stuff to talk about, even the basic theory is complex enough to fill at least one class period to explain. Religious schools can of course just fill the time with creation stories. But my understanding of Intelligent Design is that it’s not supposed to actually involve an explicit deity, and that’s how its proponents hope to get around the establishment clause and have it taught in public schools. So for people who had this taught in their schools, what was the actual content? How do they make it sound scientific enough to make it not seem blatently out of place in a science course? ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/23 "2004-11-16T22:14:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t recall the subject even coming up. As I recall, biology was pretty much just cells, cells, cells and more goddamn cells. OK, this made me laugh. As a high school student in Houston, Texas, I remembering being taught a bit of evolution with the disclaimer that it was “just a theory.” (That damage was not undone until I went to college.) To her credit, I think the teacher at least tried to get across the idea (if not much else) that evolution was not just a theory that “people evolved from monkeys.” ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/24 "2004-11-16T22:28:02Z")
I went to a Catholic grade school in the late 70’s early 80’s. Even the nun science teachers didn’t have a problem teaching evolution. But then again we were taught that the old testament was more or less a collection of stories that had a lot of moral lessons derived from them, not necessarily what really happened. They were more concerned about new testament kind of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/25 "2004-11-16T22:34:15Z")
Irish. Creationism just wasn’t brought up. Evolution is taught exclusively in school. Creationism would get a mention as a religious belief in the odd religion class or in the debating club as an interesting topic but that would be it. It is a belief that is not at all common over here. In fact I’ve never actually met a real life creationist. I have met and know many very religious people however who did hold numerous strange ideas about how the world works just no creationists 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/26 "2004-11-16T22:37:10Z")
Public high school, Pacific Northwest, graduated 1987. I don’t recall evolution being mentioned once, but there’s a reason for that. My school required only one formal science class to graduate (!), so you could take biology, chemistry, or the one I wound up choosing, electronics, which I figured would be more practical. I don’t know what was discussed in the biology class, because I didn’t take it. However, as a data point, our health class (the euphemistic title for “sex ed”) focused primarily on plumbing and abstinence, with a whole heapin’ helping of scare-tactic close-up photographs of chancroids and such. We blazed through birth control in a single day. (And then I got in trouble with the administration for writing an editorial in the school paper pointing out how the increase in teen pregnancy in the district was coincident with this state-enforced curriculum. It was a rural problems-swept-under-rug sort of place.) So while I can’t say for sure, I think it’s safe to assume that the evolution curriculum in the biology class would be similarly weak and pandering to the social conservatives of the time. Everything I know about science, I either learned from family members (my grandfather is a geologist, my wife is an epidemiologist) or I taught myself by reading Gould, Sagan, etc. It’s almost better this way, to get it from the source instead of a watered-down public-school version. Of course it helps that I was born curious and went looking for the information myself. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/27 "2004-11-16T23:29:37Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > …In fact I’ve never actually met a real life creationist. I hadn’t either, until I met my mother-in-law. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/28 "2004-11-17T00:24:14Z")
I took biology in a public high school last year. My teacher never once mentioned ID or Creationism. We spent several weeks on evolution and related topics. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/29 "2004-11-17T00:41:25Z")
Public High School in Santa Rosa, CA, class of 2000. We spent _extensive_ time on evolution, genetics, and different classification systems. We bred fruit flies to see sex-linked genes in action (if you think cells were boring, try examining 300 fruit flies under a microscope and trying to figure out which gender they are) and did an experiment to show that the “fit” ones would survive having to fly to get their food (it didn’t work, but we didn’t doubt natural selection because of it). Our biology textbook had a single paragraph in it about “Intelligent Design.” Our teacher mentioned that the existence of the “theory” had to be covered. Pretty much everybody had a nice laugh at the idiocy of whoever set the curriculum. Then we went back to science. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/30 "2004-11-17T00:43:15Z")
I didn’t learn it in high school, but we did go over it in 8th grade Biology. This was in Long Island, NY. Exactly what we were told I don’t remember; I’ve learned much more about it on the SDMB than I learned in school. I do remember our teacher gave lip-service to creationism (in a one-sentence, ‘some people believe this so I’m mentioning it but we’re not going to talk about it’ kind of way). If I’d been the person then that I am now, I’d have complained to him about it. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/31 "2004-11-17T01:23:36Z")
Public high school in Howard County, Maryland. Evolution was taught, Lamarck’s theories were debunked, and both our textbook and our teacher clearly labeled creation science bunk. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/32 "2004-11-17T01:32:52Z")
I can’t imagine how creationism could possibly be a topic of discussion in British state schools, except during history lessons either on Darwin or on late 20th-century America… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/33 "2004-11-17T01:34:34Z")
> [@pasunejen](#): > > Evolution was taught, Lamarck’s theories were debunked, and both our textbook and our teacher clearly labeled creation science bunk. The name sounds familiar, so I think we did learn that Lamarck was wrong and acquired traits aren’t passed down. I remember hearing about punctuated equilibrium, and our teacher often said that genetic mutations are rarely beneficial. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/34 "2004-11-17T01:37:50Z")
I graduated from high school in 1978, in Ukiah, California – about 150 miles north of San Francisco. I took Biology in the 11th grade and was taught about evolution. Nobody in those days fretted about creationism, nor about “Intelligent Design” – at least not in Biology class. I did learn about the Scopes trial in History. Both of my kids took Biology too – my daughter took it last yearand my son the year before (we live in Yorktown, VA). They were taught evolution. In both cases, creationism was _mentioned_ but not taught. They were basically told, “Some people believe that the universe was created or designed. However, we are learning science in this class and we will be covering current Scientific Theory in this class.” ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/35 "2004-11-17T01:49:54Z")
Not only did my teacher teach evolution, she fervently held a creationism v. evolution debate one entire class period. NOT ONLY THAT, she _forced people into a side, regardless of their religious views!_ Christian or non-christian, you fought for whatever side you were given. It was that simple. God, she is such a good teacher and an even better person. This was in a rural public school in the middle of North Carolina, mind you, a very Bible Beltish area. Her and I discussed it one day and she made mention of the fact that she was lucky if at any one time 20% of her kids believed evolution had a possiblity of occurance - it can be a much lower percent. (IIRC, the lesson contained movies, lectures, and general class-wide discussions.) ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/36 "2004-11-17T01:51:08Z")
I didn’t actually take high school biology, but I had to take a history course in grade 10 which covered pre-history to the Roman era, and evolution was part of the course. The teacher didn’t tip-toe around it at all, she came right out and explained it. This was in Canada in 2000 in a public school. Interestingly though, most of the other students in my class were very religious Baptists, and after class one day, one of them asked me if I believed what the teacher was saying. I said yes, I did, wondering why she would ask me that (I’d heard the theory before, and already accepted it is fact). Then she said something along the lines that it was wrong and God created the universe. ---
**Author:** ![shamrock227](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@shamrock227](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shamrock227)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/37 "2004-11-17T02:22:04Z")
> [@LMM](#): > > 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. Change the grammar school to just across the river in Jersey and I had exactly the same thing. The Nuns had no problem teaching evolution or any other scientific theory (we got the big bang, the basics of quantum physics, etc). They felt it was more important that we were well rounded in our education than to stick strictly to the bible. And even said that it didn’t really matter in the end because no matter how it all happened God made it possible. I’m a pretty well lapsed Catholic (and would probably qualify myself as Agnostic, mostly) these days but I thought it was a pretty darn good attitude for them to have. > [@professor folk](#): > > 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? Probably. So? ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/38 "2004-11-17T02:23:44Z")
Another catholic school grad here. I went to a Jesuit school and graduated in '84. We were taught evolution. If it was presented as an “unproven theory,” that wasn’t stressed enough to make an impression since I don’t recall it. I didn’t hear of creation science or intelligent design until years later. I vaguely remember reading about Lamark and why that was wrong. Mostly I remember looking at lot of drawings showing the evolution of the horse. That and an experiment trying to duplicate Mendel and his pea plants. My damn pea plants never grew. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/39 "2004-11-17T06:16:39Z")
I graduated from a Catholic grammar school in 1975 and a Catholic high school in 1979. Science classes at both schools taught evolution as fact, and none of our teachers seemed to think Darwinian theory was incompatible with Catholicism. Actually, I recall re-enacting the Scopes trial during our 5th grade bilogy class. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050/40 "2004-11-17T06:32:15Z")
When I lived in Utah in a very small, very, very religious community, my sophomore Biology teacher was all the Bishop of the local ward. IOW, a very active, very faithful, very respected, very good Mormon Elder. He spent at least two weeks teaching us the Theory of Evolution, the history of it, the mechanics of it, and as many details as he could hope to impart to a bunch of high school sophomores. That same year, our World History teacher discussed evolution at the beginning of the course. He presented both sides of the theory, but not in the context of “creationism vs evolution.” He was 1st counselor in the Bishopric. I don’t recall he ever mentioned God in the discussion at all. He just said “These are the theories, and these might be some of the problems, and make of it what you will.” In middle school, I had the same science teacher for 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. I distinctly remember learning about Evolution, the history, the mechanics, etc. He was also a member of the Bishopric, and a “member in good standing.” Both science teachers serious scientists and dedicated to education. World History teacher was not a scientist, but similiarly dedicated to education. They all did their level best to keep religion out of the classroom…which is more difficult than it sounds given the fact we all got an hour off of school a day to attend Seminary. In hindsight, I realize how truly lucky I was to have those science classes. They never presented it as “just a theory” and never, ever indicated that it was false. The most that ever happened was that my Sophomore teacher indicated it was “part of God’s plan.” That is, God is the ultimate scientist, and isn’t it wonderful that we have science as a way to explore and understand God’s creation? As far as I recall, he only said that once somebody asked him how he could reconcile the science with his religious views. If I get the chance, I’ll thank them for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-high-schools-really-teach-evolution/275050.md?page=3)