Monday, May 30, 2011

High schooler standing tall against creationism

Below is a clip from Friday's "Hardball" with a really cool kid from Louisiana named Zach Kopplin. The host talked about how a pastor had claimed that "textbooks are biased toward evolution." Kopplin went in with a group to explain that evolution is science and creationism is not. (In effect, the science textbooks are biased toward science! As they should be!) He also pointed out that "You don't need a law to teach critical thiking; that's what science is. You need a law to teach creationism, which isn't science." I would just add that we also need to take the pressure off of teachers from teaching creationism. That has a negative impact on critical thinking, which is why the law in Louisiana needs to be repealed.

One thing I would point out to young Zack that there are many other States besides Louisiana that have poor high school biology classes. Frankly, I do not remember learning about evolution in high school. (I know I learned about it when I was home schooled, though. Thanks, Mom and Dad!)  PZ Myers, a microbiology professor from the University of Minnesota - Morris, has stated that he sometimes wishes high schoolers were not taught biology so that he wouldn't have to spend time "unteaching" the incorrect things his college students learned there. Though, I think PZ would have to admit, there are those who would then go without any biology education if they do not go on to learn it in college, and that could cause an increase to science illiteracy.

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