wanted to know the significance of the color of the dots. and i'd allow that the significance is quite significant, the green-ish are public schools, the orange-ish are private, and the red is charter schools. ...this is one of the dangers to basic education of charter schools folks; they are a way to wrap agenda with a public ribbon.

Eh... some attention needs to be paid to ensure we don't wake up one day to find every school book in the country espouses a creationist dogma.

But beyond that, I totally agree. We're wasting time and only making them look more victimized every time we have these "debates".

When the creationists can use the bible to put a rover on mars, I'll listen to what they say.

Jesus Fucking Christ

Here is the original article that includes the map with the legend. Mooney should have linked to it.

The fact that 1/3 of Americans don't believe in evolution is the kind of thing that makes you want to just throw in the towel and call it a day. The fact that those schools teach that silliness is bad, but clearly they aren't getting to a third of the country so the problem is even bigger than it seems.

I feel like having a debate is a mistake. It's implicit that both sides are worth equal consideration. Religious fundamentals try to usurp the language of science all the time because it lends an air of legitimacy. We should not legitimize them by debating them as if they are on equal intellectual footing.

Is the Earth being carried on a giant turtle? Will the great hankie end the sneeze of the Great Green Arkleseizure?

These questions aren't outside science, but belief in them is a question for sociologists, paleontologists, and psychologists not physicists or biologists.

Not sure about the accuracy of the map. The public schools with dots do not necessarily teach creationism, but they are in a state where they are allowed to do so. In Louisiana, for instance, I know biology/life science teachers at numerous high schools around Baton Rouge, and none of them are teaching creationism in their classes. I would imagine the same is true in the New Orleans area, and probably in Lafayette. All bets are off in the northern part of the state, though.

Also, I don't think all the voucher schools in Louisiana are reflected on the map, and all of them (really, all but the Catholic schools) teach creationism as science.

Couldn't it be the case that Nye thought the debate might convince some young people who haven't been sufficiently brainwashed yet? I mean, it's not like these kids have very many opportunities to see science rationally and fairly presented at all.

This debate would probably be sanctioned as suitable viewing by their parents because they are certain in their beliefs, but there might be a few young minds changed (or at least a few needling thoughts that linger)

It would have been excellent if Bye had sent a cult de-brainwasher to debate in his place. I agree that a Science vs. Creationism debate lends validity to the religious nuts.

Forget the Mexican border, can we please build a 20ft high fence around Tennessee and Louisiana?

I agree they do not deserve the attention—it's intellectual rubbernecking, and it gets the best of us.

And for fuck's sake, there's trees older than 6,000 years around here.

I'd love to see this overlaid with schools that teach abstinence only.