Curriculum Report Roundup

Poll: Most Americans Support Teaching Creationism Alongside Evolution

By Sean Cavanagh — August 31, 2005 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

As debates over how to teach life’s origins play out across the country, a new poll says that 64 percent of Americans favor teaching creationism alongside evolution in public school classrooms, while only 26 percent oppose that idea.

“Public Divided on Origins of Life” is posted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

That support for presenting both views is reflected broadly across Americans of various religious and political affiliations, from conservative Republicans to liberal Democrats, according to the poll, released Aug. 30 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a research organization in Washington.

The survey shows that 38 percent of respondents said that creationism—the biblical belief that God created the universe and all living things—should be taught instead of evolution. Forty-nine percent did not agree with that position.

The poll—which surveyed 2,000 adults on a number of issues—had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
Smarter Tools, Stronger Outcomes: Empowering CTE Educators With Future-Ready Solutions
Open doors to meaningful, hands-on careers with research-backed insights, ideas, and examples of successful CTE programs.
Content provided by Pearson
Reading & Literacy Webinar Supporting Older Struggling Readers: Tips From Research and Practice
Reading problems are widespread among adolescent learners. Find out how to help students with gaps in foundational reading skills.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
Improve Reading Comprehension: Three Tools for Working Memory Challenges
Discover three working memory workarounds to help your students improve reading comprehension and empower them on their reading journey.
Content provided by Solution Tree

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Curriculum NYC Teens Could Soon Bank at School as Part of a New Initiative
The effort in America's largest school district is part of a growing push for K-12 finance education.
3 min read
Natalia Melo, community relations coordinator with Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union, teaches a financial literacy class to teens participating in East Tampa's summer work program.
Natalia Melo, community relations coordinator with Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union, teaches a financial literacy class to teens participating in East Tampa's summer work program. In New York City, a new pilot initiative will bring in-school banking to some of the city's high schools as part of a broader financial education push.
Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via TNS
Curriculum 84% of Teens Distrust the News. Why That Matters for Schools
Teenagers' distrust of the media could have disastrous consequences, new report says.
5 min read
girl with a laptop sitting on newspapers
iStock/Getty
Curriculum Opinion Here’s Why It’s Important for Teachers to Have a Say in Curriculum
Two curriculum publishers explain what gets in the way of giving teachers the best materials possible.
5 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Curriculum The Many Reasons Teachers Supplement Their Core Curricula—and Why it Matters
Some experts warn against supplementing core programs with other resources. But educators say there can be good reasons to do so.
7 min read
First grade students listen as their teacher Megan Goes helps them craft alternate endings for stories they wrote together at Moorsbridge Elementary School in Portage, Mich., on Nov. 29, 2023.
First grade students listen as their teacher Megan Goes helps them craft alternate endings for stories they wrote together at Moorsbridge Elementary School in Portage, Mich., on Nov. 29, 2023. In reading classrooms nationwide, teachers tend to mix core and supplemental materials—whether out of necessity or by design.
Emily Elconin for Education Week