Evolution, creationism, and the battle to control America's classrooms
By: Michael Berkman, Eric Plutzer.
Contributors: Plutzer, Eric.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780521190466
Subjects: Human evolution -- Study and teaching  (Primary); Creationism -- Study and teaching  (Primary); Intelligent design (Teleology) -- Study and teaching  (Primary)
Description: "Based on their survey of high school biology teachers, Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer show that it is individual educators who often make critical decisions about what children are taught about evolution"--

"Who should decide what children are taught in school? This question lies at the heart of the evolution-creation wars that have become a regular feature of the U.S. political landscape. Ever since the 1925 Scopes "monkey trial" many have argued that the people should decide by majority rule and through political institutions; others variously point to the federal courts, educational experts, or scientists as the ideal arbiter. Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer illuminate who really controls the nation's classrooms. Based on their innovative survey of 926 high school biology teachers they show that the real power lies with individual educators who make critical decisions in their own classrooms. Broad teacher discretion sometimes leads to excellent instruction in evolution. But the authors also find evidence of strong creationist tendencies in America's public high schools. More generally, they find evidence of a systematic undermining of science and the scientific method in many classrooms"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. Who should decide what children are taught?; 2. The public speaks: 'teach both'; 3. A nation divided by religion, education, and place; 4. Is evolution fit for polite company?: science standards in the American states; 5. Teachers and what they teach; 6. State standards meet street level bureaucracy; 7. When the personal becomes pedagogical; 8. Teachers in their schools and communities; 9. The battle for America's classrooms.