It's really worrying when a vast majority of teachers in the United States refuse to teach actual science--in this case, evolution--for any reason; be it because of the torch-and-pitchfork routine that is likely to be elicited from ignorant parents who don't want their children learning non-biased reality, or because they don't think the children should be taught something that goes against their religion.

Researchers found that only 28 percent of biology teachers consistently follow the recommendations of the National Research Council to describe straightforwardly the evidence for evolution and explain the ways in which it is a unifying theme in all of biology. At the other extreme, 13 percent explicitly advocate creationism, and spend at least an hour of class time presenting it in a positive light.

What does this mean for education and the future of the self-described "greatest country on Earth"? We're intellectually fucked. So fucking fucked. If our teachers can't be trusted to stand up for science and reason, how can we have any hope for our children to be able to tell reality from fiction or be able to critically evaluate evidence.

Being able to do either of those is of course not directly connected to the teaching of evolution, but science and critical thinking are merely extensions of proper education, of which the teaching of evolution, as a central tenet of the field of biology, is a part.

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