evolution

[Note: This post has been revised for quality.]

By now, all the bloggers in Kansas have posted about this poll of 600 Kansas adults, most of whom identified as registered voters. Since I don’t read any of them (just kidding, I do manage to visit one or two), I felt obligated to post something.

Naturally, being a stalwart supporter of proper science education, I was immediately drawn to question number 3, which read, “Would you be more likely to support a candidate who supports teaching only the theory of evolution? Or a candidate who supports teaching alternative theories to evolution?” Of course, if you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’d know that I think that questions like these set up a false dichotomy between two things that cannot be compared.

What’s even worse is this: I’m not sure how pollsters would fix such a thing even if they did want to poll on this issue. Perhaps this question ought to be rephrased as two questions which cut right to the heart of the matter: “Do you believe that evolution and ‘intelligent design’ are competing scientific theories?” and “Do you believe they should both be taught in science class?” I’ll go ahead and point you (despite the inexplicable contempt for me you’ll have found there recently) to Josh’s list of possible replacement questions — the answers to some of which, while not necessarily making good replacements for this question per se, would be interesting in their own right.

I know why the poll was set up the way it was, though. The pollsters realize that the way most people see this issue is exactly in the terms of that false dichotomy. That, in my opinion, is the most interesting information in the polling on this question, and I think it reveals stunning inadequacies in our educational system in general and in science education in particular, which are topics deserving of their own posts. There are several “theories” on the creation of the Universe and all its creatures; one in nearly every religion that has ever existed. Most don’t stand up to the tests of data, observation, and the powers of reason and logic that mankind has developed over many centuries of experience and that I believe are inherent to all human beings (despite the fact that many of us suppress them).

In the vein of useful and proper education, it was heartening to see that most people — regardless of race or gender — show support for sexual education methods other than “abstinence-only”. Abstinence from sex may be the only way to truly guarantee perfect sexual health, but teaching an “abstinence-only” curriculum requires that teacher and student alike deny their realities. This became painfully obvious to me when I taught high school — more than a few of my students had become “parents” at the age of fifteen. I will say, however, that in the light of the aforementioned inadequacies of science (and also mathematics) education, I wonder how far we should carry sexual education programs knowing that there is an upper bound to the time we can keep kids in school.

Pluralities of the people polled thought that the Legislature should do something besides cutting funding to state programs, raising taxes, and consolidating schools to ensure that schools are properly funded. I would suggest to them that streamlining and removing levels of bureaucracy within school districts themselves might be the place to start. I think some philosophical changes in the role of teachers would be in order as well, but again we bump into a topic for another post.

Another thing that would make interesting reading is the following: I’d like to see this same poll repeated in two months’ time, with the same respondents and questions, with one exception — the addition to question #1 of the issue “same-sex marriage”.

Why on earth would I want to do that? Notice that the typical things that affect most Kansans’ daily lives — illegal immigration, health care, education funding — polled highly, while the category “Other” often lay inside the margin of error. It could be that the issue wasn’t polled because it’s largely been decided in Kansas — same-sex marriage has been banned both by statute and by constitutional amendment. I’d still be interested to see the results of the second poll, though, if only to show that it’s a non-issue ginned up every election year in order to fatten campaign coffers and stir up partisan voters. As for the “defense of marriage”, well, Bill Quick and I agree that heterosexuals like me have loused that up pretty well without the help of same-sex couples — which are really only a tiny minority of all couples — by our casual attitudes toward it.

I was glad that (except for one glaring exception in science education, which is frankly our own fault) Kansans seem to know what is important. As for this Kansan, I plan to vote based on who provides me with the least intrusion into my home and wallet and with the most efficiency and class in government, and for right now that is Kathleen Sebelius. That leaves something for me to desire, but one must take what one can get and start again from there.