Barbara Forrest

Fifty-seven point five percent is not a happy figure in Louisiana.  We may as well round up and say 58%. That’s the percentage of Louisiana residents who indicated in a recent survey that they favor teaching creationism along with evolution in the state’s public schools. The creationists at the Louisiana Family Forum and the Discovery Institute, who teamed up to promote the creationist Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008, are surely rejoicing to learn this.

The significance of the Louisiana legislature’s passage in 2008 of the creationist Louisiana Science Education Act is reflected in the Public Policy Research Lab’s inclusion of questions about creationism in its Spring 2009 Louisiana Survey (April 1, 2009) [pdf]. The survey is sponsored by the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs in the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. It is ironic that the survey was released on April Fool’s Day — the results are no joking matter.

pprl-chart

This figure, with its accompanying graphic, is also included in both the PPRL’s Newsletter Summary [pdf] and its April 1 press release (p. 3) [pdf]. Even when the 31% who oppose teaching creationism are combined with the 11.4% who “don’t know,” majority support still tilts heavily toward teaching creationism. The question measuring the public’s understanding of the relevant science explains this dismal figure. Only 38.8% of respondents agreed that evolution is well supported by scientific evidence. A greater number, 40.3% disagreed, and 20.9% didn’t know — for a combined total of 61.2% who do not understand basic science well enough to know that the theory of evolution is one of the most well-supported scientific explanations in the history of science. That is almost two-thirds of the people surveyed, which, given what such surveys mean, is meant to reflect the views of two-thirds of Louisiana citizens. These figures help to explain why Louisiana consistently lands at or near the bottom rankings of virtually every national survey of educational achievement.

There are other interesting statistics here, some of which are encouraging but which also contradict other findings by the PPRL. According to their survey, 61.9% agree and 31.1% strongly agree (a combined 93%) that “Regardless of family income, Louisiana high school students who are qualified should be able to attend Louisiana colleges or universities” (p. 28). In addition, 54.6% agree and 25.8% strongly agree (a combined 80.4%) that “Louisiana needs more college-educated workers to attract high tech jobs and businesses.” That’s encouraging. Yet, at the same time, 46.4%  agree and 6.3% strongly agree (a combined 52.7%) that “The state could make significant cuts to state colleges and universities without affecting the quality of existing academic programs” (p. 28).

In other words, the majority of Louisiana residents want access to Louisiana universities for all qualified Louisiana students, but they want it on the cheap.  Fewer than half, a combined 39.9%, agree that “State colleges and universities should be able to raise tuition and fees to offset any state budget cuts over the next fiscal year” (p. 28). This makes no sense. More contradictory still, a combined 75.1% agree that during the current economic downturn, funding for universities should be kept at current levels or increased (p. 29).

[Another finding is that 64.5% of respondents support changing the funding formula for higher education from enrollment-based to performance-based (p. 30). (Louisiana university funding is presently enrollment-based.) Translation: they believe that universities should be funded based on whether the adults who attend college pass their courses. It is doubtful that respondents have thought this question through to what it actually means. It means that professors — that's who this is really about — are to be held responsible for whether their adult students do what they are supposed to do: showing up for class, studying, etc. But that's another story for another day.]

Meanwhile, the Louisiana Family Forum is making it easier for sympathetic teachers and  school boards to take advantage of the Louisiana Science Education Act by promoting creationist textbook addendums and the Discovery Institute’s creationist DVD, Investigating Evolution, on the LFF website, where it is also encouraging local schoolboards to adopt “Academic Freedom Resolutions.” The Discovery Institute, whose legal advisor, David K. DeWolf, helped write the LSEA, continues its long-time practice of holding “intelligent design seminars” in churches. John West, associate director of DI’s creationist Center for Science and Culture (CSC), recently held such a seminar at the First Presbyterian Church of Tacoma, WA. West told an Opelousas newspaper in 2008 that DI hopes to see its stealth-creationist textbook, Explore Evolution, adopted in Louisiana schools. Another seminar — with the blatantly creationist title, The Creation Conversation: Darwin or Intelligent Design?, featuring CSC executive director Stephen Meyer — begins tomorrow, April 19, at the Watermark Worship Center in Dallas, TX.

These are the people to whom the Louisiana legislature, Gov. Jindal, and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education turned over the authority to craft policy concerning science education in Louisiana public schools. So those of us who work hard every day to make Louisiana a better place to live, work, and raise our children must keep this figure consciously before us: FIFTY-SEVEN POINT FIVE PERCENT. We have a lot of work to do. Boy, do we have a lot of work to do.