A new poll shows that a majority of Pinellas parents who profess to follow the controversy over teaching evolution vs. intelligent design say the latter should be taught in schools.
The Pinellas poll mirrors a national divide. But it also shows that intelligent design has gained mainstream support, even in a politically moderate county not known as a hotbed for Christian conservatives, who are often portrayed as intelligent design’s core supporters.
Elsewhere, a report by the Washington,D.C.-based Fordham Institute calls Florida’s standards for science instruction “thin,” “naive,” “disappointing” — and in some cases, flat wrong. Florida’s failure to adequately explain evolutiona is part of the reason why a new state-by-state analysis by an influential education foundation concludes that Florida’s standards are among the worst in the nation.
