The first time I was taught evolution in school was in 8th grade science class, which was basically a small introduction to biology before moving onto the big, scary high school. It was then again taught in my AP Biology class and discussed in many other of my science classes throughout the years. I didn't think anything of this, as I went to a large, public high school.
But then I suddenly thought about the students who did not attend the same type of school that I did. Are they deprived of the education about evolution because of teachers beliefs? The answer is most likely not because evolution is part of the standard biology curriculum, but the curriculum does not specify how long of a time frame it must be taught, or how far in depth it must go.
Most high school teachers try to not take a stance on evolution as to avoid conflict, but 30% do advocate a pro-evolutionary view while 13% teach a creationist view. The main problem with this is that there are scientific evidence and data to support evolution and some teachers are just disregarding it because of their own beliefs, which is wrong.
I believe it is possible to believe in God and practice your religion and still believe in evolution. I do not think a teacher should decide if their students get to learn about all of the data that is available on evolution, or if it is simply brushed over enough to say "Yeah, we covered that."
It is hard to think that a huge topic like evolution can be completely skipped and ignored when there is so much data to support its findings.
Evolution is said to be one of the core ideas in biology, yet someone can get a biology degree from an accredited university and not even take a single class on it. They get around this by stating religious freedom reasons.
This may be another reason why some teachers do not teach it or won't take a stance on evolution. They could have the mindset of "If I didn't have to learn it, then why do I have to teach it?" Because of this, many teachers simply avoid teaching evolution in its entirety, in fear of not having enough knowledge or information to answer parents and students skeptical questions.
As a student, I always respected my teacher more if they admitted they didn't know something and would get back to you about it later, so this is not a very convincing argument for me.
It has also been suggested that teachers should try and teach evolution in a skeptical manner and then let the students decide how they feel. When I took AP Biology, I was only 15. Anything an adult taught to me was true. So, if evolution had been presented to me in a way that made it seem like my teacher didn't even believe it, I probably wouldn't have either.
Even if evolution is presented to students, in some schools it is only briefly discussed, averaging about 1-5 hours worth, which is not nearly enough time to present all the facts and answer students questions about the topic.
Teachers need to be passionate about presenting the facts in evolution and let the students decide if they agree or not.
A study in 2007 found that 1 out of 8 teachers were teaching creationism as scientifically credible, which sets the students up for failure in future STEM-related classes and fields. In the same study, 6 out of 10 teachers were teaching evolution with incorrect information, causing the same results as previously stated.
I think that teaching evolution in high school is extremely important and should be addressed more than it has been, especially for the student's struggling in their college biology classes because of it.
