it’s even wilder to me because something i didnt realize until i got to college is that in biological sciences, things that are ‘controversial’ in the public eye-specifically evolution and climate change? these things are taken as a given. like that’s how much sheer evidence exists. you walk into a biology classroom or lab and the question isn’t going to be if they exist, it’s going to be how it effects whatevers being studied. it isn’t up to debate. if ur really walking into a biomed classroom like ‘evolution isnt real’ like it’s not gonna be like high school where everyone’s like ‘haha yeah whatever’ you are actually going to get stares of disbelief from ur peers, like dude, how the fuck? why are you even here? how did you get x far in biology while just openly denying the existence of real, palpable forces of nature?
i remember one of my current professors taught my entry-level bio course in freshman year. it was a 200-300 person lecture hall. he did clicker questions a lot, and one of the things he did was take a survey of the class at the beginning of the semester responding to the question ‘is evolution real?’. a chunk of people, like probably 30% of the class, said that they doubted it.
later in the semester, we underwent the most extensive learning experience for the basics of evolution i have ever been through to this day. like he did four or five solid lectures JUST focusing on different reasons why it exists, from a number of different aspects. i remember thinking every day going to class ‘he MUST be done talking about why evolution exists today now’ but no. he was not. i believed in evolution long before college and i had no idea so much raw evidence for evolution existed.
at the end of this literal week and a half module on why evolution exists, he took another poll asking the same question of our class: ‘is evolution real?’. reminder that this was maybe a 200, 250 person class.
how many people said that they didn’t believe in evolution?
3.
literally 3 people. part of me wants to believe that they were trolling, like ‘haha yea i dont believe in evolution lol’, but the farther i get in undergrad the more it haunts and vexes me. we’re in iowa, at a large public university, with a lot of people from more rural and religious areas; what could be the chances that there were at least 3 people in that class that just…..dismissed the past week and a half of study as fake? or thought that it was made up to push an agenda?
but that aside, my professor showed the results (three people out of HUNDREDS) on the projector, and then deadass said “if you are still doubting evolution, i recommend that you take a look at what makes you believe that way and question it”. AND THEN HE JUST MOVED ON. after that absolutely RAW line that to this day i think about at least once a month, he was just like ‘anyway’. like i have never had a teacher just flat out say ‘if you have a belief system that so strongly denies evolution that after a week and a half of being presented the evidence you still don’t believe it, and you want to go into the biological sciences, then either you are not right for the biological sciences or your belief system may be wrong’.
was it slightly rude? yes. i, personally, do not and will never have the ability to just like….say that. was it something that no other teacher in my educational career has been so frank about, and probably something that needed to be said right off the bat before going into more advanced courses? also probably yes.
but anyway im gonna be a TA in one of his other classes next semester lmao
it’s even wilder to me because something i didnt realize until i got to college is that in biological sciences, things that are ‘controversial’ in the public eye-specifically evolution and climate change? these things are taken as a given. like that’s how much sheer evidence exists. you walk into a biology classroom or lab and the question isn’t going to be if they exist, it’s going to be how it effects whatevers being studied. it isn’t up to debate. if ur really walking into a biomed classroom like ‘evolution isnt real’ like it’s not gonna be like high school where everyone’s like ‘haha yeah whatever’ you are actually going to get stares of disbelief from ur peers, like dude, how the fuck? why are you even here? how did you get x far in biology while just openly denying the existence of real, palpable forces of nature?
i remember one of my current professors taught my entry-level bio course in freshman year. it was a 200-300 person lecture hall. he did clicker questions a lot, and one of the things he did was take a survey of the class at the beginning of the semester responding to the question ‘is evolution real?’. a chunk of people, like probably 30% of the class, said that they doubted it.
later in the semester, we underwent the most extensive learning experience for the basics of evolution i have ever been through to this day. like he did four or five solid lectures JUST focusing on different reasons why it exists, from a number of different aspects. i remember thinking every day going to class ‘he MUST be done talking about why evolution exists today now’ but no. he was not. i believed in evolution long before college and i had no idea so much raw evidence for evolution existed.
at the end of this literal week and a half module on why evolution exists, he took another poll asking the same question of our class: ‘is evolution real?’. reminder that this was maybe a 200, 250 person class.
how many people said that they didn’t believe in evolution?
3.
literally 3 people. part of me wants to believe that they were trolling, like ‘haha yea i dont believe in evolution lol’, but the farther i get in undergrad the more it haunts and vexes me. we’re in iowa, at a large public university, with a lot of people from more rural and religious areas; what could be the chances that there were at least 3 people in that class that just…..dismissed the past week and a half of study as fake? or thought that it was made up to push an agenda?
but that aside, my professor showed the results (three people out of HUNDREDS) on the projector, and then deadass said “if you are still doubting evolution, i recommend that you take a look at what makes you believe that way and question it”. AND THEN HE JUST MOVED ON. after that absolutely RAW line that to this day i think about at least once a month, he was just like ‘anyway’. like i have never had a teacher just flat out say ‘if you have a belief system that so strongly denies evolution that after a week and a half of being presented the evidence you still don’t believe it, and you want to go into the biological sciences, then either you are not right for the biological sciences or your belief system may be wrong’.
was it slightly rude? yes. i, personally, do not and will never have the ability to just like….say that. was it something that no other teacher in my educational career has been so frank about, and probably something that needed to be said right off the bat before going into more advanced courses? also probably yes.
but anyway im gonna be a TA in one of his other classes next semester lmao
Minerva: What. Did you do? Harry: Alright, but you can’t get mad at me… Minerva: What. Did you do? Harry: Okay, first, I was minding my own business– Minerva: [slams hand on table] BULLSHIT! Harry: I WAS!
If I'm your savior, then you're mine. 