<p>So, I am totally for evolution....but my school is predominately conservative, and I feel kind of squashed when it comes to class debates and conversations about this. My opinions on this topic are very strong.....does that make me liberal? Would I feel squashed in a conservatively-leaning school?</p>
<p>If so, should I go to a liberal school? Take the Ivies, for example. Brown is the left-wing one, right? But on the whole, the Ivies are relatively conservative, correct? But would they be conservative enough to deny the science of evolution?</p>
<p>If not (I'm assuming they're not,) are there any schools that would deny/dodge the science of evolution? It's an integral part of my proposed major......</p>
<p>I would need to avoid those ones haha.......</p>
<p>“Ivies are relatively conservative.” Compared to what? Compared to how they were in 1970? Yeah. Compared to your high school? Absolutely not. That Mr. Santorum feels the need to yell about liberal indoctrination in most colleges would suggest that most colleges would be a good place for you ;)</p>
<p>But seriously, most colleges are fairly liberal places, and even ones that aren’t won’t be so conservative as to deny evolution in the face of facts. At the Christian schools there’ll be more discussion of how God created evolution, maybe, but not denial of its existence.</p>
<p>You will not find that worldview in any competitive college. The colleges that would deny or even dispute evolution will clearly label themselves as such (Think Bob Jones University and the like). If you’re a competitive enough student to be considering the Ivies, then no school worth your time will deny or dispute evolution.</p>
<p>The biology teacher at your high school should be able to help you with your list. If he/she rejects evolutionary theory, just avoid the places that he/she approves of. If he/she thinks the rejecters are nutcases, he/she will be able to help you avoid institutions where they congregate.</p>
<p>It’s kind of sad that in this day and age, some schools and teachers continue to brush off evolution and say things like “It’s just a theory”. In my high school (which is in California and is by no means a Conservative high school), the anthropology teacher said this very thing and said things like “You can believe whatever you want, I am just teaching you this THEORY, and it is just that, a theory.” These kind of teachers need to be re-educated on what a scientific theory is because they think of it like a hypothesis. It’s this kind of education that allows 40% of the US to not believe in evolution. Sorry that I am pretty much off topic, but I had to let it out somewhere…</p>
<p>Actually, there’s nothing wrong with calling it a theory. In science, that’s a pretty solid thing! A scientific theory can be refuted through testing, and a scientific theory that survives tests for a century becomes very solid indeed. </p>
<p>That’s a very different animal from someone’s faith-based personal belief system. There’s nothing wrong with religion, either, but it’s not science. Faith-based belief doesn’t meet the rigorous standards necessary to be a scientific theory. Different animals.</p>
<p>rbouwens - I don’t think you’ll have a problem if you confine yourself to schools that are reasonably mainstream. Understand that even among social conservatives, the people you’re describing aren’t taken seriously. Even if they’re all around you, this is a fringe group - not typical conservatives by any means.</p>
<p>On the lighter side, 1) Avoid any school where scientists from any field are referred to as “evolutionists;” and 2) Avoid any school where faculty use the “Second Law of Thermodynamics” to apply to creation/evolution, or anything other than the temperature/pressure of a closed physical system. Seriously, google it if you want a laugh.</p>
<p>And good for you for standing on your own two feet.</p>
<p>My youngest daughter, a hs sophomore, has been getting into routine lunch time arguments over whether dinosaurs existed. The girl she is arguing with is conservative and religious (i know shocker). What really terrifies me is that this girl gets good grades, she has a bright mind yet refuses to accept that dinosaurs existed and believes that scientists are in on a big “hoax.” She also firmly believes the world is only several thousand years old.</p>
<p>On the bright side, she is in the minority - even at our rural conservative high school this isn’t standard thinking. Yet.</p>
<p>Great link above. I especially like the Gould quote: </p>
<p>Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein’s theory of gravitation replaced Newton’s, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin’s proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered.
Stephen Jay Gould, Evolution as Fact and Theory</p>
<p>Also, not sure how “conservative” and “evolution” are mutually exclusive. . . perhaps the anti-Santorum person knows.</p>
Seriously, google it if you want a laugh.</p>