There are times when it sucks to be right.
Back in 2010, I was editor of Secular Homeschooling Magazine. An AP article had just come out, explaining that homeschooling "science" textbooks are often anti-evolution because most homeschoolers have a religious worldview that makes them eager consumers of such works. I wrote an article in reply suggesting that they take a better look at the bigger picture. When it comes to flawed science education in America, homeschoolers are not the problem. A specific anti-science mindset is the problem, and that mindset shows up all over the place. I cited a report by the National Center for Science Education that deplored the current state of American schools when it comes to teaching science in general and evolution in particular. I pointed out that the homeschooling mom profiled in the AP article lived in the home state of the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum. If her daughter had gone to public school instead, she'd be in a system that the NCSE graded with a D when it came to science education.
"Yes, it's a shame that there are children who aren't getting critical thinking skills or a fact-based, evidence-based science education," I added. "It's also a shame that the Associated Press didn't point out that most of those children attend public school."
This week, Tennessee -- which also received a D on the NCSE report card -- decided to go ahead and support my point.
Ironically, its so-called Monkey Bill states in so many words that "an important purpose of science education is to inform students about scientific evidence and to help students develop critical thinking skills."
How soothing.
The bill goes on to say, "The teaching of some scientific subjects, including, but not limited to, biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning, can cause controversy."
If "cause controversy" means "start an argument among non-scientists," okay.
The next sentence of the bill would seem to confirm this definition: "Some teachers may be unsure of the expectations concerning how they should present information on such subjects."
In this setting, though, "controversy" is a loaded word. As in, "All we're asking is that you teach the controversy!"
And that's the problem.
There's no scientific controversy about evolution. None, none, none.
The bill claims that its aim is "to create an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues."
And there it is.
There's a difference between socially controversial and scientifically controversial.
This bill makes it sound as if, when the kids start arguing with the information being presented, teachers should respond along the lines of, "Now, that's an interesting idea, Billy."
It also sounds as if, if the teacher replies instead with, "This is a science class, Billy, not a course in comparative theology," Billy can go home and tell his parents that they should sue the pants off his teacher for not responding with appropriate respectfulness to Billy's point of view.
Yes, teachers should be polite.
But being polite in this setting doesn't mean suggesting that agreeing to disagree on certain ideas looks just like scientific literacy, if you squint at it.
Science class is where you learn that the universe doesn't give a damn about your precious opinion. Science is about gathering together plausible hypotheses, smashing them with the heaviest hammers you can find, and seeing which ones hold up.
You may not like the looks of what you see when the dust settles. Ask Dr. Semmelweis what his 19th-century colleagues thought about his idea that they should wash their hands before attending patients. They thought it was ugly and insulting, and maybe it was. It was also correct, so far as saving lives was concerned.
Evolution, like germ theory, is rock-solid science, and the only controversy associated with it is the screaming of people who feel personally insulted by the idea of sharing a common ancestor with other primates. Which makes about as much sense as holding a bitter grudge against gravity for making your grandmother fall and break her hip.
It doesn't matter if students or their parents claim not to "believe" in evolution. Science has nothing to do with belief. Semmelweis' fellow doctors refused to believe that they could be responsible for spreading disease. That didn't stop a lot of women from dying.
It can be interesting and informative to hear what students think evolution is before you teach them. In a science class I taught to several young homeschooled children, I asked exactly that. All of them had heard of evolution, but had only a vague idea of what it meant. The only thing they all agreed on was that evolution was about being the "best," and that the best creature was the one that lived the longest. There was nothing disrespectful or inappropriate about my explaining that this was a common and completely incorrect idea. We had a terrific time learning about such evolutionary success stories as the luna moth. Do some research and you'll find the chilling information that, as one entomology site puts it, "adults do not feed." Specifically, they can't. They don't have mouths. Their entire adult existence is spent creating the next generation. The forces of evolution don't care if the luna moth might feel or suffer from hunger. And an individual luna moth is certainly not going to win any longevity records. But the species is doing beautifully. And that's what matters, so far as evolution is concerned.
Similarly, science doesn't care what students feel about the facts. And the facts aren't going to change to reflect wrong ideas. Any science teacher who implies otherwise is doing his students a grave disservice.
Getting back to my own original hypothesis, which is that those concerned with the scientific literacy of our youth should get to work fixing the school system before they pick on homeschoolers: Tennessee, which was getting a D in science education before this bill became law, has an under-18 population of about 1.5 million children.
Guess how many homeschoolers there were in the entire United States last time anyone checked?
About 1.5 million children.
Scientific conclusion?
Clean up your own act before you start yelling at us. Your resources are limited, and way more children go to public school than are homeschooled. And at least the homeschoolers who are taught young-earth creationism are also taught that they're special for being part of a select group who believes in this. They know other ideas are out there, even if they're taught to reject them. In that respect, what hope is there for the children in public schools who are taught that majority local opinion = science?
Oh -- and if you need any advice on teaching evolution, drop this homeschooler a line. I've got a list of great titles I'm always dying to share. The first one is Why Evolution Is True, by Jerry A. Coyne.