Creationism in Science Class? | Reacteria

[@sigrid129]

As an European it’s so hard to understand why creationism is even mentioned in American schools. If a teacher here in Denmark would teach creationism, it would cause a national uproar. 🇩🇰

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

The biggest reason I would say is the nature of religion in relation to the state in the US compared to European countries. While many countries in Europe like France and the UK had official religions that people were forced to believe which drastically cut down on the marketplace for religious beliefs and allowed an easier time secularizing. Meanwhile, in the US, the separation of church and state made religion a personal choice and made religion a highly competitive market between different denominations to get converts.

[@leleh5712]

Yes, same for me! I am from Germany and we teach evolution in biology class, because it's a part of biology. No controversy at all.

[@theflyingdutchguy9870]

here kn the netherlands they do teach creationism because most schools are christian schools. i have tried to tell them but they dont care abiut the truth most of the time.

[@torreysauter8954]

Everything I hear about Denmark convinces me that's where I'm going if I were to leave the USA. Sounds like a nice place to live. You have so many tricky vowels for my poor English native tongue though lol. There's a lot of conflation in the US between religion and politics, particularly on the right. It gives them a LOT of political power even if their positions aren't majoritarian

[@finderfinder100]

Asimov summed it up in 1980 "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

[@samuelrosander1048]

"How can an African American person evolve from a white person? They're different skin!" Aside from having it backwards...this says a lot about the culture that this kid grew up in, and it goes a long ways towards explaining why "we didn't get over" racism as a country.

[@peterbartley7183]

It’s not backwards, it’s just a misunderstanding of how skin colours evolved

[@samuelrosander1048]

@@peterbartley7183 I don't think you understand the meaning of words, or else you didn't take the time to really read and understand what I wrote. "Having it backwards" doesn't mean that they are "backwards people," but that the order of things is backwards. The fact that it's a misunderstanding is implied. That misunderstanding is the point, because it says a lot about the culture that kid grew up in, and goes a long ways towards understanding why we didn't "get over" racism. The same white-Euro-centric beliefs of the past persist today thanks to those misunderstandings which are TAUGHT AS FACT, often thanks to religion. Yes, it's a misunderstanding, but it's almost certainly (almost) one that the kid was led to.

[@kiburi4080]

Dude really just did what he accused someone of lmao

[@EskChan19]

@@peterbartley7183 It is backwards though. "African American" didn't evolve from white people, it's the other way around. Dark skin was the default for the majoity of humanity, which originates from africa. We know from humans who lived about 1,2 million years ago. But the white skin didn't evolve until about 100.000 years ago. So for 1,1 million years, ALL people were black. So "How did black people evolve from white people" is backwards.

[@Denny_Boi]

I wanted to vomit when I heard that.

[@tiggerpup_nz]

I couldn’t imagine being in a country where science teachers are scared of science.

[@stevewebber707]

It very much depends on what part of the country, before attitudes like that about evolution are strongly accepted. And I can tell you, I am extremely glad I didn't live in a place that let religion dominate curriculum like that.

[@silentcaay]

Luckily, it's not the whole country. Just a few bible-centric states intent on living in the dark ages.

[@2l84me8]

That’s America for you.

[@domiro8156]

WELCOME TO JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEBUS MURIKA!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@maxdanielj]

@@domiro8156 the fact KZbin put a "translate to English" thing with your comment is 😆 but accurate

[@kyleryan2599]

I had a teacher in science who dealt with the issue of creationism by starting a class and saying, "I believe Gnomes cause gravity, prove me wrong". And every student tried to ask a question that should've proved that theory wrong, but he came up with an answer for every question no matter how challenging. The exercise opened my eyes about belief

[@LivinandLauren]

Haha that’s great! I can’t imagine how he did it, but he must’ve been a masterdebator!

[@gomonke]

@@LivinandLaurenur comment was a lack of ‘de’ away from being very weird

[@nicanz1500]

This is called Russell’s Teapot! Bertrand Russell used this analogy to explain that the burden of proof should lie with the person making unfalsifiable claims, NOT the person who’s expected to falsify it. He applied it to religion by conjecturing that a microscopic teapot orbits within our solar system and no one can prove him wrong. But they shouldn’t have to because the burden of proof os HIS to bare. It also gave rise to a lot of religious parodies like the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

@@gomonke And a *U.*

[@shaunogg9966]

@@LivinandLauren If he was a maths teacher he would be a maths debator...

[@gillifish]

I was never taught evolution due to being in private school, and they straight up LIED about so much history and science, it makes me want to pull my hair out from all the deconstructing I had to do

[@LividCreature]

I never had to go through that and I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to go through the deconstructing process.

[@41-Haiku]

@@LividCreature It really sucks. I was a homeschooled Christian, and while my parents did an amazing job overall, I still feel robbed. Not just of basic knowledge in a few fields of science, but of the type of thinking that is required in order to navigate a confusing world. Teaching creationism necessarily comes with the implicit promotion of conspiratorial thinking, and an allergy toward thoroughly investigating counter-claims on their own terms. "Crazy" people with "crazy" beliefs aren't usually bad people. They've just been trapped in ways that they can't even be properly made aware of.

[@alisaurus4224]

Big same, my friend

[@sombodysdad]

There isn't any scientific theory of evolution. You were spared a ton of lies.

[@LividCreature]

@@sombodysdad somebody’s dad.. please don’t indoctrinate your kids in to nonsense, because you’re obviously a big believer in it.

[@deadchannel22]

I went to a private Christian school in Canada. the only time I ever heard the word "evolution" in school was when my science teacher said "oh, this chapter is about evolution, just skip it." I have learned more about biology from the few videos of yours I've watched than I did in Bio 12. Thank you for making videos. I hope you know how important it is and how much it means to people like me.

[@nenmaster5218]

People, seriously, the Push for Creationism and/or Evolution-Denial in Schools i way more intense than most realize: Professor Dave just made a video about the Discovery Institute, but anyway: Religion and Problematic Problems are so deeply connected and rich-in-numbers they literally spawned countless Atheist-Channel.

[@masterofthecontinuum]

How the hell does someone teach biology without evolution?

[@stylis666]

But the teacher was fine with teaching Muhammed explained that mountains are pegs to keep tectonic plates from shaking the ground on the back of the turtle, right. Just giving it a "fair shake".

[@sunnywunny]

cute picrew

[@Hhuhbvhjbhjb]

You know more than our new Supreme court Justice

[@SlavaPunta]

Engineer here. I can vouche with 100% certainty that "those kids" did not last long in my college courses. It was clear as day which kids had zero meaningful science in high school, as they were aggressively run out of the program. And that's the crime. Those bible thumpers ruined entire career paths for all those kids. The tools they needed to become doctors, vets, engineers.... were taken away from them without them knowing it.

[@albertleibold1415]

How does the theory of evolution help you to be a decent engineer?

[@marknieuweboer8099]

It doesn't really. However rejecting the scientific method like creacrappers do is harmful as described indeed. Engineers don't call 6 +-6 = 0 mathematical acrobatics; deny negative energy; bring up a leaking bicycle tube to prove that our Solar System couldn't have formed by natural means. Appy (my pet name for AlbertL) wouldn't have lasted a week in your class but perfectly illustrate your comment.

[@EskChan19]

@@albertleibold1415 Because they are not just "Not taught evolution", they are taught that the answer to everything they don't know is "We can't know because god did it". And that's not how any science works. It also ruins critical thinking, which you also need in a lot of these careers. I think you severely underestimate just how scientifically illiterate religios hardliners want people to be.

[@somdudewillson]

@@albertleibold1415 It's not the theory of evolution, it's the negative response to asking questions and critical thinking.

[@mikeFolco]

Engineer here... yikes.

[@zr_3757]

The fact of how upset you got with how the teacher handles and screws up children's questions really hit me. You reminded me of the literal dozens of young teachers/TAs who are just as passionate about teaching kids and helping them learn about the world. It's so wholesome and heartwarming to see

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

You also have to remember this is a rural school back in the early 90s. That's something that everyone seems to be forgetting here.

[@perishedfortune]

@@Lobsterwithinternetyour forgetting he’s not supposed to teach this at ALL per the law

[@1495978707]

There's also sadly many TAs who are just fulfilling an obligation

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@perishedfortune And you're forgetting that these are his friends and neighbors. And what happens to people who try to step out of line in a small town.

[@Strype13]

Yeah, I wish I could go back in time and swap a few of my unfit and/or ineffectual science teachers for Forrest. That would have not only made class far more enjoyable, but a lot more educational as well. The world would definitely benefit from a lot more people like Forrest. He's such an admirable fellow.

[@DarkDemonOfHel]

This is always so wild for me. Going to german schools all my live evolution was always handed as a fact in science class and religious believes were discussed in their own class. And those that didn‘t go to religion class, like myself, had their own class at the same time named ‚ethics‘. It was the best time to develop my critical thinking, hands down. We learned about so many cultures and religions, it was actually amazing. The class consisted of mostly children of muslim or buddhist families and a handful atheists. And then there was me with my mom being a jehovas witness. She didn‘t want me to learn about ‚false‘ religion and put me in ethics. Jokes on her, it only strengthened my thoughts of her being in a cult :D

[@marcelkuizenga]

You are so lucky! But please don't forget you only have one mother.

[@WillPhil290]

Oh wow lol... Jw's are finding it harder and harder to keep their numbers in the age of information... their kids are generally more savvy with the internet and often slowly and tentatively figure out that they're being lied to... it's heartbreaking, really. My girlfriend went through it. She had to basically educate herself because she was deprived of a formal education...

[@rticle15]

This behavior is rare in American schools. Nobody i know attended a science class that discussed creationism at all.

[@rjgaynor8]

@@rticle15 go to middle America and the Bible Belt. I know plenty of people that were taught this.

[@DarkDemonOfHel]

@@marcelkuizenga yeah. I know. How could I forget the women that abused me physically and mentally all my childhood until I left with nothing more than the stuff in my bag? :D

[@benneel5396]

There is probably at least one student in that classroom that had legit questions about evolution and wanted to learn but because the teacher and the majority of the other students were against it, they remained silent.

[@albertleibold1415]

The maintenance of genome integrity is essential for organism survival and for the inheritance of traits to offspring.

[@MeganVictoriaKearns]

I'm certain you're correct about that. Probably more than 1 kid. Maybe several? But high school was a tricky sort of ecosystem when I was a student in the late 90's/early 2000's, and from what I hear, things are not just as difficult to navigate for the kids but it's gotten worse! I know the feeling of wanting to take a side or ask a question that will "out" you as being on the "wrong side" of the majority vibe in whatever class or situation... and immediately stifling my instinct to speak up or declare a position for no other reason than I was scared to go against the grain. For totally social and, in hindsight, utterly stupid reasons. Lol... if it weren't for facebook popping into my life circa 2007/2008, I probably wouldn't speak to any of those people. But in school the friend thing is just SO IMPORTANT. Ugh... Just sucks remembering how not confident I used to be... ah, well. Most of us fell victim to it.

[@jounisuninen]

Forrest Valkai is surprisingly ignorant of modern genetics. Intraspecific adaptive variation is a genetic fact, but it is no proof for the evolution from a universal common ancestor. Intraspecific variation is limited within the species own genome. Evolution would need new unforeseen genes but there are no such genes on our planet. The ancient fish could produce different fish but it had no genes to make life on land possible. Valkai is fooled by Charles Darwin. By the way ... mutations won't help here. If mutations could create qualitatively new genes, why has DNA the mechanism that eliminates ALL mutations it finds? Scientists like Ohta, Kimura, Elena and others have estimated, that the proportion of useful mutations is so low that it can’t be statistically measured. [Ohta, T., Molecular evolution and polymorphism. Natl Inst Genet Mishima Japan 76:148-167, 1977.] [Kimura, M., Model of effective neutral mutations in which selective constraint is incorporated. PNAS 76:3440-3444, 1979.] [Elena, S.F. et al, Distribution of fitness effects caused by random insertion mutations in E. Coli. Gentetica 102/103:349-358, 1998.]

[@jounisuninen]

@@albertleibold1415 "The maintenance of genome integrity is essential for organism survival and for the inheritance of traits to offspring." - That's intraspecific adaptive variation. It is NOT evolution which could change a species to another species.

[@finnie9210]

@@jounisuninen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence_of_common_descent

[@JETAlone12]

Giving creationism a "fair shake" would mean taking it apart and looking at how it works, not just shrugging saying "well that's what you believe so I guess that's the end of the conversation."

[@njones420]

As soon as "magic" or "gods" or the "supernatural" is supported by some evidence, we might take a second look...until then it's just a hypothesis with no underlying factual cause. Should we investigate the _theory_ "Elvis lives on the Moon" while we're at it?

[@Noname-w7f1e]

@@njones420 To be fair as soon as something “magical” or “supernatural” gets supported by facts and actual scientific models - it stops being “magic” and becomes “science”. There’s no need for special pleading for some specific claim or belief as if it is true - it will eventually naturally become part of scientific consensus!

[@njones420]

@@Noname-w7f1e Absolutely! Just like rainbows and talking-snakes ;)

[@Talismantra]

You mean it hasn't happened yet?

[@H3XED_OwO]

Christianity hasn't been disproven and both sides are constantly making counter-arguments. So it's only bias that is tainting peoples views on things rather than actual facts. It's just as good or bad as teaching evolution tbh; And we shouldn't make the education system robotic but rather encourage people to think critically. 'It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.' - carl sagan (an atheist)

[@kathrynyoung3362]

I was homeschooled by young earth creationist. I am having to try to educate myself as an adult. Learn how to learn. I’m so far behind and I’m so angry at my parents for denying me an education. Thank you for making this content. It’s incredibly helpful.

[@ishathakor]

some websites like edx and coursera also have college-level courses available for free! good luck you got this!

[@ertymexx]

I am very sorry for you. I cannot imagine your struggle. But on the bright side you have so much wonder to learn ahead of you. Though I can see how that it doesn't feel like that if you feel "left behind" as it were.

[@michaelmcdoesntexist1459]

Don't hate them. They're a product of their environment. A damaging environment were children are denied education cause parents are teached from fear and rejection. Be the better person and spread knowledge and comprehension.

[@torrov]

You and i buddy, you and i

[@annk.8750]

My daughter, teaching university classes in the bible belt, introduces the topic by asking "OK, how many of you look like your mother or father?" It's a good start to the topic.

[@james0000]

That's pretty much how I put it with my kids. "Mankind is created in the image of it's creators." I went on to explain it in modern terms. Me and their mother are makers. We each contributed the software almost equally, and then I would bring raw materials to her and after most of a year she was able to finish using those raw materials to build/assemble them. I then helped remove them from her lab once they were ready for the next phase in development. It took nearly another year for her to finish making and feeding them a special food. I pointed out that she made this special food strictly for them, no one else was allowed to eat it early on. Eventually, they were able to convert the raw materials as food for themselves. At that point their mother shared their special food with other makers who had trouble making enough of their own for a lot of different reasons. That because of them eating food directly, other makers were happy and their creations were too. That this was their first gift to the community at large. Obviously, depending on the spacing, this only works for the first couple. Then they are more apt to ask a sibling. It's hilarious hearing a sibling try to re-tell the story though. As far as asking how many of the kids look like their mother or father... I bet your daughter has some interesting stories about odd responses to that question though. :)

[@annk.8750]

@@james0000 , I think it's better to ask "do you look like your mother" because most people know who their mother is... :D

[@eduardopena5893]

And then you will have some pink haired, pierced up, lunatic that identifies a rainbow zebra that will get offended by this and charge you with sexual harassment because they don't have a mother or a father, they have a "birthing person."

[@guilhermecastro9893]

@@annk.8750 ya and also like their father couse you know...its the fathers sexual chromosomes that dictates the gender of the child in the womb...

[@cegesh1459]

@@james0000 Humans aren't creations

[@landonholmes2025]

Just to show you how ridiculous this is imagine if your doctor was taught that cells is just a theory and instead it might just be witchcraft that keeps your body alive. Would you be comfortable going to that doctor? This shows why teaching science accurately is important

[@richardstemle6019]

Some people actually believe that though. Or similar ideas.

[@randominternetguy3537]

@@richardstemle6019 what? No. no doctor believes in such a ridiculous thing. They spend 4 to 12 years learning how to save someone's life using the most up to date science. They're even taught which resources to use to keep up with medical knowledge during their careers. The only people who believe this are the ones who are not taught properly.

[@richardstemle6019]

@@randominternetguy3537 I didn't say a doctor. But in any case, there are "doctors" who either believe it or at least claim it and are lying. You can get a PhD from unaccredited sources fairly easily.

[@randominternetguy3537]

@@richardstemle6019 true. It's nice to talk to someone with common sense and the slightest hint of intelligence on this website

[@amberpants771]

It’s the reason I decided not to become a chiropractor. Most of the doctors (not all) would be like this which is so bonkers to me

[@silverlightsinaugust2756]

I love the comparison of “we can’t come from a single cell” to being born

[@Just2Ddude]

Agreed. Super good analogy if you really think about it.

[@toforgetisagem8145]

Some of the religious believe the baby poofs into a fully complete bean size baby and grows in the womb to be baby birth size. They won't accept the single cell explanation.

[@LisaAnn777]

It's obvious god forms us out of clay, breaths life into you, wraps you up in a blanket and hands you to the stork. And that's where babies come from:) Anyone who says nonsense about life coming from a single cell is just a gawd hater!

[@dakota9650]

@@Just2Ddude No, it's funny because it's a ridiculous statement lol

[@extremelynormalperson]

@@dakota9650 no, just a good metaphor.

[@fredjohnson6794]

Science teacher of 28 years in Idaho. Boggles my mind how threatening evolution is to many folks. While I’m sensitive to my student’s personal beliefs, I frequently remind them of the meaning of theory as it stands in science as opposed to everyday language, and that science is true regardless of what one “believes”. Thank you for your videos…inspiring!!

[@Skywarped33]

Hi, former Christian homeschooler here. I really really wish I had a science teacher like you growing up, I honestly feel like I have to catch up with science due to my education (or lack there of) in certain fields. Your videos are awesome and you have explained so much to me through them, I just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work. Keep it up ☺️

[@geronuis2295]

SAME!!! but luckily we got homies like forrest!

[@brandonf177]

As another former Christian homeschooler, I totally agree. I’ve been consuming his videos like water for the last couple months. Really helped me solidify my beliefs in science.

[@philipaubin4679]

@@albertleibold1415 I'm curious, what unscientific nonsense are you talking about? While I'm an atheist, it has no impact on my understanding of science (I have a pretty thorough education with my 1st undergrad in Chem. Eng.,, a B.Sc.in Nutrition (plus a couple more). So give me a couple of statements which with you disagree, and why?

[@sombodysdad]

@@philipaubin4679 Evolution by means of blind and mindless processes is total untestable nonsense unless you are discussing genetic diseases and deformities.

[@brandonf177]

@@albertleibold1415 why?

[@neekerbreeker]

I don't think my career as a chemist would have ever gotten started if I'd had science teachers like the one in the video clip. Thanks, Forrest, the world really needs what you're doing!

[@nenmaster5218]

KZbinr Telltale literally covered people wanting the Congress to reverse the Seperation-of-Church-and-State, which is f-ing dangerous.

[@dieSpinnt]

It is so sad, all this wasted potential of humans that got indoctrinated to prefer a fantasy over the wonderful exciting reality of nature. Greetings from Germany ... all of this looks very horrible, from an European perspective (Not saying, that we don't have problems ourself... :) ). Anecdotal stuff following: As of age 5 onwards I preferred to take a long bath on Sunday mornings ... just to miss church **g** ... which was tolerated. In elementary school our religion teacher ( the pastor of the village ) used to throw around his bunch of keys to penalize children by force. One class mate lost his eye and I lost my interest in those catholic bastards (including god). So my mind (and experimental kits at birthday and the home computer revolution in the 1980thies, hehe) had plenty of spare time to roam around and eventually I became a electronics technician, later a cosmologist ( a kind of physicist which relates to stars, far away and not to that shit show here on earth:P ). I can research what is fulfilling to your life: How and why is chemistry like it is. That is not meant as a disparagement of your work but an ode to how wonderful our work is. :) Now to the bad things: We obviously had our own mind AND a social environment like our parents that let us grow. I am disgusted by the behavior of some religious folk to indoctrinate children. That is NOT freedom of religion, but child abuse (Not to confuse with the lately s. and physical abuse scandals of all kinds of denomination groups, which is even more an unimaginable abyss). The only good thing is that since ca. 2007 there has been a remarkably sharp trend away from religion. Maybe that explains those pesky annoying stray extremists on the internet. They are alone ... therefore they are loud. (But also dangerous). Anyway, I wish you covalent bonds and a nice weekend:)

[@kamion53]

A chemist educated in the way this guy teaches science would be a safety risk. "why did the lab explode?" "I wanted to give the other theory on chemistry a fair change."

[@bigbabatunde1218]

'I believe' cuts both ways you know. I don't care that 'evolutionists' believe that one day all the problems of their favoured 'evolutionary' theories will one day be fixed, answered, fitted in etc. Until then, you're grasping at straws and basing your beliefs on biased inference, gross extrapolations and outright guess work and hoping that you'll get well paid for your efforts. The fact that you'll disagree proves your anosognosia tinged bubble.

[@kamion53]

@@bigbabatunde1218 I don't think it cuts both ways,. It is quite weird to see that after two years of Covid people try to deny there is such a thing as evolution where we have seen a virus evolving in new variants. And what do we see with the new Covid variantS: they have a better change of reproduction by become less lethal for the hosts. Killing off a host is bad news for a parasite, making the host mildly sick but infectious gives it more oppertunity to spread. That's evolution right in front of your eyes Virology would be senseless without taking the concept of evolution serious. otherwise we could just shut down the reseach and concentrate on faithhealing and voodoo ( which to many people do with desastrous results).

[@captainsawbones]

Growing up, every science teacher I had was bland and unenthusiastic and didn't really teach - they just gave us worksheets, told us the answers were in our books, and told us to be quiet while they did their own thing. As a kid I was *fascinated* by multiple branches of science. How I dearly wish I'd had a teacher like you.

[@AngryBoozer]

Same. And it pretty much killed my interest in education.

[@robindhood9125]

@@AngryBoozerNot trying to split hairs, just curious. Did it kill your interest in education overall or just science?

[@granthurlburt4062]

Sadly, many, if not most teachers in the US arent scientifically knowledgeable. I taught Intro Biol. in 5 US universities, and repeatedly it was so disappointing how little scientific curiousity most of the Education majors had. The least of all my students who were in different specialties.

[@oratcheod]

​@granthurlburt4062 Unfortunately, I've had a similar experience TA'ing a 100-level Earth Science course at my university reserved exclusively for education majors. You'd think this population would value learning for the sake of learning, but I've heard just as many groans of "When am I ever going to need to know this?", "Who cares?", etc. as you'd expect from high school freshmen. It was a bit of a wake up call for me that not everyone is instinctively curious about the world. Why should they be when many of their teachers don't care either?

[@laumur302]

@@oratcheod People are more curious about Kim Kardashian's shenanigans and wardrobe than they are about their own human development.

[@BlobVanDam]

Australian here, and I'm glad to say that when our science teacher taught us evolution, he ripped into creationism hard.

[@usapatriot444]

Pardon me, but if you have creationism, then there has to be evolutionism. Otherwise you are mixing apples and oranges.

[@wolvie1618]

As he should.

[@usapatriot444]

@@wolvie1618 ….and he also ought to have been totally honest about what science actually teaches about evolution. Items like the very limited nature of mutations and what they can only do (fruit fly studies), as well as the total impossibility of abiogenesis and endosymbiosis should have been taught. Bottom line, you either have God or you have Nature doing the miraculous.

[@MrNateSPF]

The good ole "I don't understand science so creationism is just as valid", and it's coming from the science teacher!

[@boianko]

It doesn't even seem like he doesn't understand it. More like he's afraid that actually informing kids would be too adversarial or somehow mentally destroy them, probably because he himself lives in a state of constant cognitive dissonance between what he was taught is unquestionably true and the only path to a good life, and what he actually learned to be the case on the topic of evolution. It's a classic case of him (big shocker) projecting his mindset onto those kids and wanting to "protect them" from what he perceives as harmful knowledge.

[@frankhuggins9733]

There isn't any science behind the claim that nature produced life and its diversity.

[@frankwilson3265]

Partially true, with one important distinction that's worthy of note. It comes from someone masquerading as a science teacher. Not a teacher of science, but a teacher of gobbledegook, installed by those who feel it is necessary, and desireable, that the religious indoctrination process continues in the classroom. The reason the people want this is because they themselves fell foul of the same indoctrination process in the previous generation. And so the cycle perpetuates and continues. If there was just a single generational skip, whereby a generation was not afflicted by this practice, I think it would be hard for creationism to ever get a foothold again.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@frankwilson3265 This is a copy of a post I put up here a while ago that’s more likely the explanation: I think I need to explain a few things since you and a lot of people in the comments don't seem to understand what's going on. The main thing is that this, like many small towns, is a tightly-knit community where everybody knows everybody else. And most people are born, live, get married, have kids, and die in the same area. Now just imagine that you were raised in this community, believe the same types of things, everyone knows who you are on a personal level and you know them. Then you go to school to get an education to become a teacher in the community you grew up in and, while in school, you learn a bunch of stuff that runs completely different from everything you've ever known. After graduating, you get that teaching job back in your hometown and now you have to not only teach something you don't believe in but will make you look like a traitor in the eyes of everyone you have ever known. In that situation, it makes sense that the teacher's riding that line to do what he's required to do but not to alienate himself from the entire town by being the guy who’s effectively calling their beliefs wrong and stupid. Edit: I'm not directly criticizing you, not do I disagree with you at all. But, after reading the comments section, I wanted to make sure people understood the position of teachers or anybody else who is stuck in this position. Also to remind people, this is in 1996. There is no high-speed Internet and most of the kids and adults here don't have mobile phones. The town and the surrounding areas is pretty much the entire world to them. Edit2: Also wanted to add that the teacher probably doesn't have the kind of deep knowledge or passion for science that Forrest does. He probably got assigned to teach science and is just winging it.

[@MeDecade]

This world needs more people like Forrest. His passion for teaching is infectious and his intellect is astonishing.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Too bad people like Forrest are more inclined to do research or work in the private sector than teach kids.

[@lisaboban]

Do you know why there aren't more people like Forrest teaching in public schools? Because dealing with creationist parents and school boards, and dealing with school bureaucracy, all while being underpaid, is not a great career! It's exhausting! It's discouraging! Want more teachers like Forrest? Pay them appropriately and then let them teach!

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@lisaboban Quite.

[@katelynnehansen8115]

@@lisabobanabsolutely!

[@angelaparrish283]

@@lisaboban yessss! It’s actually a simple concept. If you want better quality candidates in the private sector, you pay better. There’s absolutely no reason why our teachers shouldn’t be paid the same or better than data scientists and engineers. Anyone who thinks they don’t deserve it doesn’t know a good teacher. Meanwhile, products of nepotism are bringing in millions a year while playing golf…..it’s gross.

[@bitcores]

To give "Creationism" a fair shake, you have to handicap "Evolutionism" severely.

[@Llortnerof]

Please don't shake Creationism. It's got a few screws loose, so it tends to fall apart if you do.

[@AndyfromPBG1]

No, you don't. You have literally no evidence that supports evolution better than it does creation. Please expand your circle of friends.

[@bitcores]

@@AndyfromPBG1 Evolution is supported by the evidence. Creation accommodates the evidence. By not making any distinct predictions, creation can not be disproven, but it also can not be proven. Creationists just accommodate new discoveries with ad-hoc reasoning. And to give a little personal background, I was born in a YEC family, church and went to a Christian private school and then a public high school. Evolution certainly wasn't given a "fair shake" in the private school and I don't remember any of the science classes on Evolution in high school, but I don't have an outgoing personality and I was an outsider, coming from a private school, so I probably didn't express my doubts or opinions on Evolution to my teacher at all. But I do remember my response to an Elder when asked why I don't believe in Evolution, and it was similar to some of the questions the students had in this video. Looking back on that, it shows that I didn't understand Evolution and because that lack of understanding was not corrected, the church was not a worthy authority to teach on that subject. I don't know if I would have been more interested in Biology if I had been taught it properly, but I know I was done a disservice in my education.

[@thelonelytoris6831]

@@AndyfromPBG1 are you arguing for creationism on a channel that can easily prove you wrong, lmao

[@moonshadow1795]

@@AndyfromPBG1 Lets seee, we have an explanation for why there are 26 bones in the foot all held together tightly by muscles prone to being sprained. May I ask why the foot would be like this if it was perfectly designed?

[@moestietabarnak]

"Sorry Mr. Professor, can you teach us the Stork theory of reproduction? give it a faire shake please!"

[@jb888888888]

Heretic, everyone knows it's cabbage patches!

[@metal_pipe9764]

I know the English language is dumb, but why would the word fair have a random e at the end?

[@thewooddove2]

its fancy or the commenter is french and its autocorrect

[@metal_pipe9764]

@@thewooddove2 k

[@mintybadger6905]

I have a 3rd grader and every morning, on our way to school, we chat about science and evolution. The questions she asks are just amazing. Kids need to know about this stuff.

[@stylis666]

And people need to listen to the questions children have. They can remind us to sometimes stop and think about things we have taken for granted for so long. Also, how old are the children in this video? Is it normal in the US to be this far in the teenage years and no jack shit about science? I remember learning how science, and evolution, and stuff works when I was 8. I probably even learned it before that because I had a brother whose homework I always found far more interesting than mine and I used to drive him nuts with questions. He also taught me to:" Jesus fucking christ, instead of asking me a million questions, go and figure it the fuck out for yourself! Use your fucking brain, you lazy twat; I am NOT teacher or encyclopedia." And he was right, as usual, so I did :D Edit: Obviously I heavily paraphrased my brother's answer(s) from a lot of different events over lots of years :D He is fine with being lumped together and squashed into a ball :p Just as long as you learn and have fun :D

[@albertleibold1415]

You are fooling yourself and your child. 😢

[@dubiouscloud5115]

@@albertleibold1415 I strongly dislike people that complain of the "lack of evidence" for evolution despite having no evidence that the first woman was made from a rib.

[@albertleibold1415]

@@dubiouscloud5115 : You obviously have verifiable scientific evidence to be a descendant of a fictional unicellular organism called LUCA.

[@icycooldrink6085]

@@albertleibold1415 What an idiotic response. You don't even know (from the person you are responding to) what exactly it is that they discuss. For all you know he might be a meathead like you, and be saying 'Obviously we were magicked up, because I can't understand any other way we could exist'. But, Minty Badger, props to you for having the discussion regardless of your own views. Asking questions is a vital ingredient in an intelligent mind - let your child's mind grow and expand rather than stagnate, as someone else here clearly has.

[@verdatum]

I might have mentioned this before in other videos. My AP Bio class 2nd semester was on the origin of species (abstract, not the Darwin book). Our teacher explained that he was required by the county to teach both Intelligent design and evolution. "We'll start with Intelligent design. Intelligent design states that a higher power created all life. By examining life, the argument claims that it is clear that living structures are so very complex that the only way it could have come into existence is that an intelligent designer created all of it. Alright, any questions?" "Um, does that mean God?" "Good question: I believe that I am legally not allowed to answer that question. Any other questions? No? Great. None of that will be on any test. We are now going to spend the rest of this semester studying evolution. We are going to learn why an intelligent designer is not needed as an explanation for life."

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

_~standing ovation~_ 👏🏻👏🏽👏🏼👏🏿👏🏻👏🏽👏🏼👏🏿👏🏽👏🏼👏🏿👏🏼👏🏽👏🏻👏🏿

[@arni21]

That teacher is a chad

[@sombodysdad]

Intelligent Design is not anti-evolution. ID posits that life was intelligently designed with the information and ability to adapt and evolve. Evolution by means of intelligent design, ie telic processes. Genetic algorithms exemplify evolution by means of telic processes, ie intelligent design. And it is a given that your teacher never followed through and actually demonstrated that blin d and mindless processes produced life and its diversity.

[@verdatum]

​@@sombodysdad If you are speaking about abiogenesis, that is beyond the scope of evolution. If you are not, then there is no need for an intelligent designer to explain the workings of evolution. As a result, it makes no sense to insert one. If you feel the need to include an intelligent designer to kick off life, that's quite alright with me. However, that's just a presumption. ID does not explain what happened, so there's absolutely nothing to talk about within a science class. Meanwhile evolution is predictive and testable science. At the same time, scientific investigation is constantly learning more about self-replicating collections of molecules, to the extent that I see no reason to believe that abiogenesis will not someday be resolvable through circumstance alone, and your god of the gaps will shrink into nothingness. "Telic processes" refer to processes that have a specific end-goal in mind, and no, genetic algorithms do not serve as an example of some form of evolution with an end goal. You're welcome to believe as you please, but that doesn't change the fact that ID is an untested and arguably untestable hypothesis, not a science. It's at best a thought experiment. Other than defining it, there is nothing about it that is teachable within a science course.

[@sombodysdad]

@@verdatum Hiw life originated dictates how it subsequently evolved. There isn't any evidence, fir example, that evolution by means of blind and mindless processes produced any bacterial flagellum. The very definition of genetic algorithms are goal oriented processes. They solve the problems that they were intelligently designed to solve.

[@jas1007]

I remember what my 10th grade biology teacher said on day one of class. "This is a science class. I will be talking about evolution throught the year. I am not asking that you believe in evolution, just that you understand it."

[@fluffsarecute]

I'm from the south and went to a small private Christian school and my favorite Biology teacher used to start new concepts with, "whoever, whenever , why ever,.... this happened and this is how we know". I respect her so much for that and it really cut back on unnecessary arguments and distractions.

[@sormokah8229]

I actually went to public school in Tennessee K-12. A couple instances I distinctly remember are 1) when I was in 8th grade (~2012) we were shown a video in science class on why evolution *can't* exist, citing the existence of giraffes and Bombadier beetles. And 2) my sophomore biology class, the teacher straight up said "I don't see how any of this can be done with out [God]." Needless to say, I wasn't too happy those days in class.

[@grahvis]

Ah yes, the Giraffe with its recurrent Laryngeal nerve pointlessly running all the way down to loop under the Aorta due to evolution.

[@sormokah8229]

@@equate5577 yes! That's it!

[@sormokah8229]

@forrest valkai I could see this making for a good reacteria.

[@majorcupquake5006]

Ah. Interesting I went to public school as well K-12 in Louisiana in 2000. Maybe I got lucky or my trash ass memory fails me but. None of my teachers have said anything about evolution vs creation. What time did you attend?

[@thomasaskew1985]

Typical Bible-belt education.

[@ArielVHarloff]

One of my best friends was home schooled on a Christian curriculum and they did not even have the faintest idea how evolution worked but told me it was garbage anyway. I ended up figuring out that they did know that genetically inheriting traits works (to my surprise tbh, those ideas are so linked in my mind I don't even know how you can know about one and not the other) so I talked to them about dog breeding and then circled back around to evolution. (they happen to really like dogs so I figured that would keep their interest) they definitely agreed that it made sense and I'll probably have to have more conversations with them about this stuff but the other day they brought up not knowing how whales and dolphins aren't fish so we talked about the evolution of mammels, it was fun. (they're in their mid twenties btw

[@albertleibold1415]

You must be an expert in story telling.

[@animeepstudios9110]

Is it possible to learn this power? ( Of explanation and detective skills to find the information and help your friend )

[@julesmasseffectmusic]

Hung out with my aunt and her delinquent kid who praxtically never went to school, yeah great mum. For the first 3 hours of me having a drink with my aunt her kid joined us we talked about economics, then law then science etc. Every afternoon and evening was me answering the kids (15yo) questions or telling her why something she thought was pointless was really important. On the second night the kid said she learned more hanging out with me slowly getting shitfaced than she did at school. I made the topics interesting, I challenged her views every time she tried to say who cares. Simple rule is be engaging whilst entertaining.

[@dougr8646]

Yes you can learn this skill, it comes from learning the topic thoroughly. Thats pretty much it, don't look fro short cuts.

[@jacksimpson-rogers1069]

I had a lady friend who when we both saw a male dolphin hoping to mate, said "Oh, now I _know_ that they aren't fish!".

[@tangytanger1ne]

We are in our evolution unit in biology, and my teacher basically said “I know not everyone believes in this, and while I respect everyone’s opinion… you’re wrong. Sorry, you’re just wrong”

[@DavidEllis94]

Good. This is how science works. "You claim this? Well, according to these pieces of evidence, you're wrong."

[@kmckacsacjac]

That’s what an actual education is glad at least some teachers stick to it, mine tried to argue against it and also argued against trans people in class 🙄🙄

[@tangytanger1ne]

@@kmckacsacjac how did they argue against trans people lmao 😂. One of the things I find funny is when people say “I don’t believe in being gay” or something along those lines. But… gay people exist 🤔

[@kmckacsacjac]

@@tangytanger1ne just using the basic your either xy or xx and nothing can change that argument like your a science teacher and don’t know that sex and gender are different 😂 but no exactly it’s just them trying their best to ignore the world they literally live in

[@albertleibold1415]

The teacher is fooling himself/herself and the students. 😢

[@Strype13]

I really wish I could go back in time and swap a few of my unfit and/or ineffectual science teachers for Forrest. That would have not only made class far more enjoyable, but a whole lot more educational/enlightening as well. In essence, the world would definitely benefit from a lot more people like Forrest. He's such an admirable fellow. Keep doing your thing, Forrest. Your content is phenomenal and very much appreciated, good sir.

[@wraithchild1590]

My mother was a HS biology teacher. This guy acts a lot like one of her co-workers that tried to say he "disproved" evolution to his students but never actually provided any evidence of this debunking. My favorite thing to do was to go and put Dawkins books on my mothers desk and then watch the crazy co-worker stack a bunch of creationist pamphlets on his desk the next day.

[@idontwantahandlethough]

I know size doesn't normally matter (or that's what they say, anyway), but the fact that there's been enough written about Darwin to fill an entire textbook (probably many more than just one) and yet the creationist nonsense can only fill a pamphlet 😂 I guess if they tried to explain themselves any more, the blatant inconsistencies and whatnot would probably become obvious

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@idontwantahandlethough Hope we have all seen Professor Daves coverage of the eovlution-denying Discovery-Institute.

[@blu3d3vil97]

@@idontwantahandlethough creationism is basically "me old book says so"

[@user-uo1qr6vn1q]

Joe Wilkey, the science “teacher” in this documentary, can obviously believe whatever he wants. But if he’s having this much trouble understanding the difference between choosing to believe something is the truth vs something that is true whether he chooses to believe it or not, he shouldn’t be teaching kids science in a public school. Period.

[@zeropolicy7456]

What is and isn't true is constantly... evolving, in the world of sciences. What we hold to be unequivocal truth today, may be a misguided misunderstanding of truth tomorrow.

[@h.a.l.3980]

@@zeropolicy7456 Wrong. What is true is always true and what isn't true is always not true. Our perception and knowledge are just growing over time. Nobody will ever disprove evolution or gravity or any of the major scientific concepts. Their might be ever-so slight tweaks and adjustments, but nothing to the level that it would make the theories wrong.

[@zeropolicy7456]

@@h.a.l.3980 The fact that you would speak in absolutes like that shows you haven't a grasp of the basic fundamentals of science. Ask literally ANY published and respected scientist, regardless of their field, if they believe our foundational theories are so airtight that they are impossible to disprove completely and they will tell you of course not, that that's not how science works, and that in the face of extraordinary evidence, even something as foundational as Gravity must be declared false and outdated. The hubris of a scientist or one who would call himself one is believing that any level of his understanding is so absolute that it cannot and will not ever be shown to be wrong. The very philosophy of science is constantly challenging our own assumptions about how our universe works. No scientist worth their salt will ever claim perfect knowledge about any subject, and no aspiring student that understands how science should work would ever make the claim you just made. I highly recommend some self reflection, because you seem to put a lot of faith in the foundational theories of science. And faith has no place in science.

[@h.a.l.3980]

@@zeropolicy7456 Gravity absolutely exists. Evolution absolutely exists. It is ignorant to state otherwise.

[@zeropolicy7456]

@@h.a.l.3980 Condescension. I try to be civilized, and you immediately resort to insults. Why am I not surprised? This is KZbin, after all. Turns out, I have a Bachelor's in Biology and I'm currently going for my Masters. You might have a degree in Geology, but you're clearly not published. Having a degree means nothing more than you know how to study the works of others. It doesn't put you on the same level as published scientists, and even further, Doctors out there actually making discoveries and researching both old and new ideas. It does strike me as odd that someone with a "degree" in Science would be so quick to act like a know-it-all. Then again, maybe not. I'm sure there's some kind of crude Big Bang Theory joke about Geologists to be made here.

[@jospinner1183]

The thing about teaching evolution in high school is that it can be _incredibly_ fun. I was lucky enough to have a brilliant biology teacher in high school (thanks, Mr. McFadden!) who began our unit on evolution by telling the story of Chucky D.'s travels on _The Beagle._ This part of the class was _absolutely_ focused on storytelling and how Darwin gathered up the pieces of evidence that would eventually come to support his theories on natural selection. These lectures were really interactive, and he asked and answered all sorts of questions. It was incredible, and solidified my interest in biology. (Now I'm a botanist and a university professor.) This was at a time when Virginia public schools had a legal requirement to do some degree of "teaching the controversy." Mr. McFadden followed the law by giving us a ten minute lecture on what Intelligent Design was (this was the mid-90s, so that's what they were calling it at the time). He explained to us why ID doesn't qualify as science, and that even if we believed in it, we still had to learn about evolution because it was the closest thing the science of biology has to a unified theory. It was great. As an adult, I mostly teach pre-med undergrads who don't need to be told how important evolutionary theory is. I sometimes feel like it's a bit of a lost opportunity for me, as I'd love to use Alfred Russel Wallace (my historical science hero) as a protagonist to explain the discovery of evolution. Maybe I can work in a lecture on island biogeography featuring him?

[@RoadkillbunnyUK]

This is an awesome comment! I grew up in the 80s and early 90s. I was born and raised Catholic in a Catholic majority city, I was educated in Catholic schools. I was never even introduced to the idea of intelligent design, creationism or the ‘young Earth’ and didn’t even come across those ideas until adulthood in the mid to late 90s via the young internet. The big difference? I was born and raised in Liverpool, England. I love your educational adventure story idea, maybe you should write it as a stand alone short story and self publish? I know I would like to read it, or better yet listen to an audio book version!

[@jospinner1183]

@@RoadkillbunnyUK Maybe some day I'll make a YT video on Alfred Russel Wallace's adventures. He's an absolutely fascinating guy. Wallace was essentially the younger, working-class version of Darwin, and his travels in the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago were legendary. He also had some really progressive political ideas, and I always have a soft-spot for early socialists who opposed eugenics, promoted women's suffrage, and were thoroughly anti-war. 😁 Addendum: I think Catholic schools in the US are similarly secular where it comes to teaching science (aside from human reproductive biology). The pro-Creationism and "teach the controversy" crowd tend to be Evangelicals.

[@juliee593]

Yes yes and yes. That teacher was *great.* And explaining why intelligent design/creationism doesn't qualify as science is extremely important, maybe even the most important part of that conversation. You can not judge creationism based on scientific criterea because it was built with a totally different type of reasoning than the theory of evolution, so you can not and should not hold a scientific debate between the two.

[@travcollier]

I was TA for a Bio for non-bio majors class... Way more fun than premeds, but there were some creationists. When I was doing the big (very rough) animalia phylogeny, I just said: "It doesn't matter if you think this is the Truth with a capital-T. If you think about this stuff as if evolution happened, it makes a lot of sense. If you don't... Well, I hope you like a lot of rote memorization." I also made a practice of always included a question on my quizzes which was not something they learned about in class yet, but which they should be able to make a reasonable guess about given what they had been learning. Even better if the reasonable guess based on the material so far would be wrong. Of course, I graded it just based on if their guess made sense. That totally freaked out some of the 'high achiever' students. My sections did better on the midterm and final though.

[@jospinner1183]

@@travcollier I would _love_ to teach a biology course for non-majors. It would allow me the freedom to cover what _I_ think is important for educated people to know about science, instead of just covering what the student needs to know for the MCATs or other graduate exams. I like the idea of asking "reasonable guess" questions on exams, but I suspect it would get me in trouble.

[@therealwattambor8347]

As someone who is an anatomy and physiology tutor, having a Master of Biomedical Science, and going to medical school -- watching the passion and excitement for your discussion here lights my life, Forrest! This field is beautifully fun, and one that will progress our world farther than we can imagine. It is great to see that excitement!

[@albertleibold1415]

What do you know about the functions of a genome?

[@slaygoblins]

I was suspended in middle school for telling my science teacher that evolution has more evidence behind it than religion.

[@albertleibold1415]

Evolution is not backed by verifiable scientific evidence.

[@juliee593]

Bro... Aren't science teachers supposed to graduate with a science diploma?? How you could get such a diploma and not understand the very concept of scientific evidence and scientific reasoning is beyond me.

[@blu3d3vil97]

@@juliee593 copy paste U dont need to understand it if u can remember it and write it on exam

[@james0000]

"I was suspended in middle school..." Oh yeah? I was kicked out of government class after being called a communist by the teacher due to correcting him on the constitution and taking out the copy I kept in my backpack at the time. He ended up writing me an apology. He was trying to lie to us all. It's one thing to make a claim, it's another to flat out lie and provide altered copies of important documents. He wasn't fired right then, but that was his last year. Some things cement in your mind that there are people out there in "powerful" positions, flat out lying to people.

[@juliee593]

@@james0000 what did that teacher change in the constitution?

[@darjapolakova2259]

I, an 18 year old, honestly felt such a spark of excitement and motivation to learn and fill the admittedly huge gaps in my middleschool education after listening to your 'ramble' about how race works and the countless discussions that can be had about it and other topics in the classroom. its wild to think of how many kids are missing out on that incredible experience because of lazy creationist teachers who shoud've never been teachers in the first place.

[@paulroyle-grimes]

In my school district we were never taught evolution because our science teacher was Mormon. I had to teach myself after high school - with no internet and no help. Just libraries. At least Forrest is producing these videos to assist those who had a similar experience and his expertise is so appreciated.

[@everetthopper884]

This is why religion shouldn’t be an excuse for not teaching yourself and learning about important things. Because your teacher was Mormon, your eduction suffered.

[@seivaDsugnA]

I hope you will stand up for separation of region from government. Congratulations!

[@imperialmotoring3789]

Lert me guess. You think gender is a "social construct"...

[@rocketphilosophy]

It's people like you (and Forrest) that give me hope for humanity! Keep rocking, awesome internet stranger! 🥳🙌🏽

[@2l84me8]

I love how articulate and passionate Forrest is on educating these kids.

[@Gravios74]

Forest's energy and passion in this video was so comforting. Definitely my favorite video he has pushed out.

[@JarredTheWyrdWorker]

I think one of the biggest things that changed my view on creationism was the college science professor who showed me that whether creationism was ultimately right or wrong, it clearly isn't science.

[@juliee593]

Yess, I had a whole course on the theory of evolution and how it was built, and this was one of the most interesting parts. One of those things you know you will remember in 10 or 20 years.

[@Link-dx1lx]

Man, the idea that creationism is actually taught in some schools, in schience class! is so wild to me. I had religion class in school and not even our religion teachers taught us that the creation was real. They taught us that the creation story (and many other stories in the Bible) are not to be taken literally, but treated as a metaphor.

[@captainzoltan7737]

Same I went to an Australian Catholic private school and it was the same deal

[@michawrzosek5417]

@@captainzoltan7737 there's a big difference between catholicism and some American protestant churches in this area

[@sombodysdad]

Blind watchmaker evolution is taught in science class. And it is untestable nonsense.

[@j.dragon651]

@@michawrzosek5417 Here in the south of USA evangelicals believe catholics are the spawn of the devil and they are all going to hell.

[@janicebeams2389]

All the evidence supports creation science. The big bang is patently fiction and so is radiometric dating.

[@carmenbatchelor]

I'm taking a philosophy class, and we got onto the question: "if you had a friend who was believing in flat earth and the like, how would you handle that?" And I absolutely love the idea of simply asking them why they believe that and just pull at the string on the sweater and seeing what happens. Amazing video!

[@hanalexcranealister6799]

Just handle them like vegans, do they go around their life doing their own? Good, do nothing, so they go around trying to force their ideology in you? Bad, cut their head off 🤣

[@h.a.l.3980]

Find a new friend. Flat earthers don't just become globe believers.

[@briantrowbridge8134]

@@h.a.l.3980 the concept sailed right over your goofy ass head lol

[@iampfaff]

@@h.a.l.3980 just because someone stumbles and looses their way doesn’t mean they are lost forever

[@h.a.l.3980]

@@iampfaff It isn't a stumble lol. These people actively seek conspiracies. They have some internalized need to be special and different. Otherwise known as man-child syndrome.

[@CoffeeIsRequired._.]

Sir, I cannot overstate my appreciation for your passion for learning. You should create a training series for teachers about how to be a fearless teacher. You’re awesome!

[@nicolasandre9886]

Well, it's not necessarily wrong to teach about creationism in class, as long as it's in history class, and that it's made clear that's a religious concept and definitely not a scientific one.

[@marvinorozcomoreno8619]

Religion is not supposed to be taught at school. Creationism IS a religious teaching.

[@dsweet5273]

Creationism isn't history either. It should stay in churches.

[@nicolasandre9886]

@@marvinorozcomoreno8619 : teaching religion as true should never be part of any public school's program, but teaching basic concepts of religions as part of history or geography classes makes sense to me. Knowing at least basic stuff about what people believe, or used to believe around the world can be useful in my opinion.

[@heiyuall]

@@marvinorozcomoreno8619 A comparative religion course has to touch on the various creation myths from various religions. The problems are isolating one religion to endorse in school, and lying about established science.

[@DaTimmeh]

@@nicolasandre9886 most definitely. Just like we need to teach about the Holocaust, so we don’t do that shit again, we need to learn about religions and related events like the crusades.

[@seraphinaaizen6278]

It's worth noting that, at least in the developed world, this is an exclusively American phenomenon. No other country has this "controversy", and in every other predominantly Christian country, creationism is considered to be a fringe, anit-science position that is not taken seriously. The degrading of the American education system for religious motivations has been going on for a long time, and in the last few years especially we've seen a lot of the fruits of that long term sabotage in the number of anti-reality conspiracy theories that have now become mainstream because these kids from thirty years ago are adults now and they don't KNOW anything.

[@chainthunder083]

I live in a smaller city in Canada where we have a very large LDS and christian population. It was a big deal when a kid in my brothers high school biology class got mad about being taught evolution. That not something that happens here. Evolution is taught in biology, because its a scientific theory. I always find it so odd that when I look to the south I see all these cases of evolution being disregarded in science classrooms, and it just feels insane to me.

[@ottopatchen6577]

It's because of americans believing they have a right to opinions on things they know nothing about, which fuels their reluctance to listen to experts. It's really saddening.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@ottopatchen6577 As an American, I’d say it has much more to do with the deep cultural differences between the more educated, rich, and liberal coasts and the more rural, agrarian, and blue-collar Rust Belt.

[@ottopatchen6577]

@@Lobsterwithinternet oh yeah, definitely a cultural thing. I also think it has to do with how religion is taught. I was indoctrinated Christian and was never taught to question anything and that everything was just "God's Plan" that we dumb people can't understand. I know anecdotes aren't the best source, but I've heard and seen many others fall into the same trap, and they mentally stagnate because of it. It's sad, but you can't force people to learn and question things once they "grow out of it", which is why it's important that we expand on questions kids have so they have a better foundation for new experiences and can grow as individuals capable of thinking for themselves.

[@slevinchannel7589]

Hope we have all seen Professor Daves coverage of the eovlution-denying Discovery-Institute.

[@imagomonkei]

Former homeschooler and Answers in Genesis employee-you have amazing content and explain things so well. I hope we can raise the next generation better than the current one.

[@albertleibold1415]

Genome instability is synonymous with an unhealthy organism. 😢 “Genome instability is one of the most common characteristics of human cancer cells.”

[@justed91]

The way things are going, in US, the next generation isn't even going to school anymore.

[@Pikepaw]

I really appreciate watching Forrest getting so excited while he is being the hypothetical teacher as he reacts to the students questions.

[@mckaylapaddock9319]

Wish I'd had a teacher like you! My family was so "afraid"for me when I studied evolution, especially when I went to a liberal college, UC Santa Cruz, to study marine biology in the ecology and evolution department.... They told me all the time how they were worried I'd be 'brainwashed', and that the 'Godless' lefties would just dismiss me and treat me like ignorant trash. I saw myself as an intelligent individual who loved learning and debate, and i went to school ready to prove that i wouldn't be brainwashed or hate me religion stripped away. I did learn and do very well, and found it very interesting, but I worked really hard to make everything I was learning for into my belief in God. And i asked a lot of questions. Same were answered, make weren't, or have been pieced together over more than a decade now. Side note, I was never treated like I or my religious views were trash, but i have been treated like trash by creationist. My own mom recently blamed my liberal college and friends, even though i graduated ten years ago) on why my political views have turned left, and said she fears for my soul bc I'm not 'following God', even though I continue to tell her that I do, but that kind of talk really does push me further away.

[@romanpaladino]

Go Banana Slugs! I love Santa Cruz. I didn't go there, but one of my high-school budies did, for biology as well, and I used to drive up there from Cal Poly SLO all the time to go visit. Have great memories of that place.

[@Montesama314]

If a belief or "godliness" can't survive a period of college education, then you're not being taught holiness, just ignorance.

[@lindadavis5668]

Former Biology Teacher, and an atheist ⚛. I knew at around 8 yrs. the Bible is BULLSHIT. Thousands of contradictions by God. Evolution makes perfect sense.

[@Enginerd000]

I can’t believe I stumbled across this video. I was in Mr. Wilkey’s science classes in 2000 and 2003 (he wasn’t teaching biology anymore at that point). I do remember getting into a really dumb argument with him because he kept pronouncing Mendeleev’s name wrong. Good times… He was a super sweet teacher who always told us he loved us, but I don’t think anything in the video misrepresented his scientific credibility.

[@undrwatropium3724]

So is that good or bad?

[@darthgorthaur258]

Yeah I think we need more details now, like why he stop teaching biology?

[@thomascarroll9556]

I was educated in the 60/70s in UK, at a Roman Catholic school, when we did science we just did science, we had lessons in RE (religious eduction, about religion in general) and RI (religious instruction, that’s how to be a true (not necessarily Scottish) catholic. No conflict what we learnt in biology was how biological things worked interpreted as how gawd dunnit. This science denial in the US is perplexing, you can be an eminent scientist and a believer, like Francis Collins, you don’t have to be a mindless moron like “PhD Giggles” (aka Georgia Purdom of AiG)

[@richarddennis4785]

@@thomascarroll9556the problem is the conflict with a biblical literalist viewpoint. Evolution must be challenged/dismissed in order to maintain this worldview.

[@theharoldsshow]

@darthgorthaur258 Sometimes teachers just get moved around I guess. Depending on who retires and gets hired or something, a new teacher could be a Chemistry major and would be better equipped to teach chemistry so the chemistry teacher gets moved to be a biology teacher, or a physics teacher.

[@ThelastDJ1976]

The section from 18:00 to 24:20 was absolutely hypnotizing. Your passion for teaching is so evident and displayed brilliantly here. Wish I had more teaches like this growing up. Keep it up, you're helping us all with these videos ~

[@albertleibold1415]

You believe to be the descendant of a brainless unicellular organism called LUCA, right?

[@heckingbamboozled8097]

He really does have an almost contagious level of passion for the subject.

[@matthiasnagorski8411]

They really aren't allowed to be. Or, at least, they are expected to be THAT excited to teach the same archaic curriculum every single year. What we saw was the way teaching should be, honestly. A little reading, a lot of discussion. Summary tests that show how a student responded to the particular topics, not for grading purposes. At least until high school. But even at that point, the ability to discuss topics and absorb information will do an individual more for the rest of their lives than the memorization of pointless facts and figures.

[@TheIcarusFalls]

As someone from a small town in the bible belt, in Tennessee specifically, I'm so happy and thankful that I had science teachers that, quite literally in this case, understood the assignment and knew how to challenge a student body made up mostly of extremely religious teens. They never once called anyone wrong or dumb for being christians, and never once in all my years of science studies did any teacher ever mention creationism and straight up lie to his/her students. Thank you to all science teachers I had growing up. You guys certainly didn't get enough credit for teaching in that era. Mr. Gallagher, specifically, you are the fucking man, sir, to this very day.

[@megynrn4721]

I was one of the students that was unable to attend the evolution unit in high school due to those permission slips. It actually hindered my thinking in a huge way. Even though I know that I would be very uncomfortable with the lectures, I would still hear it and my brain would have been allowed to ponder it. Here I am at 40, being absolutely ENTHRALLED by evolution and incredulous by what I’m learning now. Thanks! Love your channel.

[@Zift_Ylrhavic_Resfear]

Check out Viced Rhino's series "the evidence for evolution", based on your comment i thought it might interest you ^^.

[@neoqwerty]

Go watch Gutsick Gibbon and Aron Ra if you want more stuff about evolution (Aron Ra is well versed in phylogeny (the "tree of life" that the various branches of evolution forms) and Gutsick Gibbon is specializing in anthropology, aka she's an ape nerd with a specialization in human evolution)!

[@nenmaster5218]

@@Zift_Ylrhavic_Resfear People, seriously, the Push for Creationism and/or Evolution-Denial in Schools i way more intense than most realize: Professor Dave just made a video about the Discovery Institute, but anyway: Religion and Problematic Problems are so deeply connected and rich-in-numbers they literally spawned countless Atheist Channel.

[@itsanu1420]

I remember having kids who would miss days when we would learn about evolution and I just felt sad for them like it’s such an interesting part of science

[@johnhess3886]

Evolutionary ideas really don't work. Try running the numbers for yourself. Fill the universe with hydrogen atoms right next to each other 100 billion light years across. Let every single hydrogen atom react as fast as physically possible for 15 billion years. You get a grand total of 10 to the 160 possible chances. Now calculate how many chances you would need to draw 100 numbered beads in order out of a box, 10 to the 164 chances. So, given every possible chance that has ever possibly happened in the entire history of the universe you have a 1 in 10000 chance of drawing 100 beads in order out of a box, yet evolution teaches that eyes evolved by random chance, that human brains evolved by random chance, that life itself evolved by random chance. Nonsense. That is what real scientists call wishful thinking.

[@jared_per]

I was having reacteria withdrawals. The world needs like 100 Forrest Valkais to keep pumping this stuff out. This is one of those instant classic channels. Keep it up!

[@totallytravicious]

Agreed

[@malloryscheidel]

This is completely unrelated, but the excited way you encourage questions and explain scientific thinking in a way that anyone can understand (without feeling talked down to or stupid) is really attractive. 😳💕

[@dalailarose1596]

He has great hair, too 😝 I had a friend with curly hair, & I always cut it in a similar style.

[@denverarnold6210]

Even stupid questions can lead to great answers, if handled correctly.

[@neoqwerty]

@Fk Yu Honestly, there's SO MANY OF US who exist (all across the internet and all throughout IRL too) but most of the time we get beaten down (socially, this is not literal) and yelled at for saying facts like that and others deciding they're the right one and they DON'T want to hear the truth or get "explained to". There's a group of humans that have a behavior called "information sharing"- we thrive on propagating whatever scraps of information we have that's relevant to topics we encounter, and we don't really GET why there's people who DON'T want to learn more or correct someone else on a thing (example, I used to say "HERE'S A FACTOID" until someone randomly told me I was using it wrong and a factoid is a commonly believed, false thing repeated as if it was fact, not a smaller fact), and when i actually checked the definition, whaddya know, factoid is a lie presented as a fact!).

[@idontwantahandlethough]

@Fk Yu and as a bonus, girls (and probably guys? idk) really like it when you're super passionate about something. See above for example lol

[@Mrieder79215]

I hold you in such high regard. It is heartening to see people of your caliber choose education as a profession. I can only imagine how much your students love your classes and how you inspire them to grow intellectually. Thank you for what you do.

[@NightRogue77]

23:00 Yo…. The next minute from this stamp is some of the most passionate, truthful, and emotional commentary I’ve ever heard on this platform…. The wavering and deep emotion in your voice brought tears to my eyes. You are a real human being my friend - please keep fighting the good fight

[@heckingbamboozled8097]

He has such a personal way of communicating. I think you worded it perfectly

[@calliem4898]

God, I wish I’d had you as a teacher in middle school. Just listening to you talk about evolution and race sparked my old childhood love of learning again, even with the stuff I already knew. It would have saved me so much stress and anxiety having teachers like you in those couple of years and even now as a high schooler.

[@aromadoe]

I wish I had a teacher like you when I was in school. Your enthusiasm and willingness to discuss the subject is beautiful!

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

That's because people like him generally go to work on pet projects or in higher institutions rather than make a lot less teaching kids from a curriculum.

[@andrewbrowne7831]

Yeah, that’s just because is so easy to prove with modern technology.

[@arrowpaw1847]

My favorite fact is that most "facts" aren't technically facts, it takes such ridiculous evidence for literally anything to be considered a fact. Widely known and respected theories like evolution are practically facts.

[@thebipolarpsychonaut4984]

I so appreciate your passion when it comes to education, genuinely. If all teachers were of the same mindset, excitement, and knowledge as yourself the next generation would be much better off.

[@thebipolarpsychonaut4984]

@James Henry Smith The evangelical right has taken power of the courts and is currently removing the separation of church and state to the detriment of the country.

[@thebipolarpsychonaut4984]

@James Henry Smith Are you being serious with that?

[@tonymickle6700]

I found it ironically hilarious that without teachers like that Forrest wouldn't have a successfully awesome reacteria channel :D

[@stanleykelechi3923]

How tf is this 15 hours ago

[@kha30s22]

@@stanleykelechi3923 they can be members who contributed to this channel.

[@nicolasandre9886]

Indeed, people like Forrest Valkai making youtube channels is the only positive contribution a creationsist teacher could ever have.

[@calldwnthesky6495]

i don't find it to be hilarious at all actually. not to mention such a statement is conjecture and nothing more. typical of something coming from a person with a religious bent... are you a religious person?? or are you posing as something else?

[@calldwnthesky6495]

@@nicolasandre9886 bravo to your comment :-D

[@barbaragregory4526]

Thank you so much for making these videos. I'm 51 years old and I'm learning so much. I never learned this stuff in my Christian school, and after school I just never felt I had any reason to study it. This is really, really helpful. 🙂

[@yoshihammerbro435]

Aw :)

[@almightyk11]

I have had a few teachers that gladly answered questions, either with follow up questions are even with the statement "I will find out and tell you tomorrow". As an Autistic I really appreciated it and it made me think about looking up things instead of being distracted by the thoughts.

[@zogar8526]

So, I went scrolling through the comments after that rant about race, expecting a gold mine of science deniers. Your video about sex and gender got a few, and I expected a bit of that here too. I love seeing their stupidity. But, while I didn't go through them all, obviously, I didn't run in to any of those comments. That actually makes me happy. I may have lost my entertainment, but I gained a little faith in humanity at least.

[@Megan-nt7dm]

I've gotten into some fun debates with intelligent design people on his videos. They are super focused on bacterial flagellum evolution being impossible, but then they get scared when they realize I study that kind of shit and can explain it 😂

[@zogar8526]

@@Megan-nt7dm Lol, they get scared when anyone can just read and is willing to actually look into anything. But yeah, being able to explain it well really has to send them running. It's sad how these types of people like to pretend they like science and want to follow it, but only until it says something they don't like. Transphobes and homophobes, and racists all try to pretend science backs up what they say, when it never did. There was a time scientists tried to back that shit up, because scientists are human too, and many of them felt those ways and wanted to prove it. But the science always, with out fail, proved those beliefs 100% wrong.

[@Megan-nt7dm]

@@zogar8526 I've had some amusing arguments with kids from my high school, and it's fun to bring out the 'I watched you fail high school bio' card when they start using pseudoscience to be shitty, or sell me their MLM essential oils or whatever the fuck

[@hollychurch8901]

I've been scrolling through the comments looking for rebel flag fanatics. I've lived in the south my entire life so I was pleasantly surprised to not find any in the comments defending the confederacy. I'm so tired of hearing the justifications of why people around here still support the ideals of long dead racist traitors, whilst somehow simultaneously calling themselves American patriots.

[@ceciliaagnello1408]

when I got in college to study biology I wanted to do only research bc being a teacher sounded like a terrible job and research could be more lucrative. But after seeing how my teachers are so passionate about teaching and seeing people like you on youtube and such inspired me to become a teacher bc it's such a necessary and important job, and to think how I could teach and inspire people like my teachers did to me. I hope I can get there someday and be a good teacher like you and so many others that inspire me ^^

[@alexalbuquerquerodriguesal108]

Same deal for me, although being completely into social sciences and Forrest having little to do with It, I also wanted to research and, although I still want It, I not sure I would want to be a college teacher for BS or higher since, well, when It comes to social sciences, they're already all on colleges and not nearly enough on high school, there's practically no teacher that makes reasearch and It's on high school level as teacher with exception of the federal institutes and technical schools since they're pay a lot better than standard public schools, but pretty much everyone that goes to those places already have all the resources necessary to expand, It's the standard level that's unfortunely lacking and I hope that in a somewhat near future (like plus 6 years from now, assuming that my future masters goes well and that I don't expand to doctorate [which is really fu***** tempting by each day passes]) I will be trying to become a high school teacher and (hopefully) show the marvels of calculations on said topic (which I was pleasantly surprised by how many there was) and my utmost go beyond basic sociology and history.

[@ceciliaagnello1408]

@@alexalbuquerquerodriguesal108 that's so true, there's not much teachers like that on high schools, that's a big reason that inspires me to teach kids mostly. Being a college teacher must be really cool for sure, but we need inspiring teachers in public schools teaching middle and high school students too. Social Sciences are so important for kids, good luck with your studies, i'm sure you will become a great teacher ^^

[@wooddoc5956]

Good luck. Where there's a will, there's a way!

[@vinny142]

Ironically when I was in school in the 80's, in a school that had the word "Christian" in the name, that used to start every day with a prayer, we where tought evolution in biology lessons and "the story of creation" in theology lessons. We where not tought that god created everything but that the bible _says_ god created everything, in a "this is what christians believe" kind of way and nobody took it seriously.

[@albertleibold1415]

You believe to be the descendant of a brainless unicellular organism called LUCA, right?

[@oldedwardian1778]

Did you EVER HAVE ANY ENGLISH CLASSES? You can’t even spell the word TAUGHT. YES you spelled it TOUGHT, not once but several times.

[@mynameisambertoo7379]

I know some christians are adopting the idea that God made science, and that natural scientific and biological processes are little things God creates.Makes more sense to claim your god functions to create natural and observed processes rather than to claim it was x in the past and y now.

[@noelgonzalez9549]

Dude - can you PLEASE come teach science to my kids!?! Your passion for expanding their minds is AWESOME.

[@pistonmeyers]

You are a gifted teacher. You have all the right characteristics a vast knowledge of the subject, enthusiasm, humor, confidence, and caring for the students. Such good and important work.

[@slevinchannel7589]

Hope we have all seen Professor Daves coverage of the eovlution-denying Discovery-Institute.

[@Roozyj]

I hope he has the same vibes in a classroom! It's a bit easier to be like this in front of a camera, than in front of 25 bored teens :P But still, this is the kind of spirit a good teacher needs

[@souljastation5463]

He is, but he should stick to biology, because that part about history was absolute cringe. When you teach history you never say that one side is made of "terrorist treacherous losers", you're not supposed to do that. Imagine he's teaching Roman history and he says: _"the Germanic tribes were barbaric hordes of bloodthirsty subhumans"_ what kind of teacher would do that in 2022? This is how we used to teach History back in the 1800s when racism was accepted , the irony. I'm triggered by this guy: he just did what he himself said a teacher should never do.

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@Roozyj ?

[@Roozyj]

@@slevinchannel7589 well, what I said. I'm studying to be a teacher and it's pretty hard to be authentic and enthusiastic in front of an audience that just isn't interested. So I hope our man has the same vibes in a classroom as he has in this video, because that would indeed make him an awesome teacher.

[@alexanderwelshwelsh9931]

I find it very weird when people try to use science to explain religion, because 90% of religion is meant to be unexplainable. Like how is it a miracle if its perfectly reasonable?

[@denverarnold6210]

Because otherwise they shoot themselves in the foot, where the very documented and natural process of reproduction, taking place somewhere that can sustain life, has to be miraculous, because.... I'll let you know if I find a good answer to that. Because it WOULD, in fact, be demonstrably miraculous if we lived somewhere, by all rights, we shouldn't be able to, and people came about from no obvious source.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Mostly it's to reinforce their beliefs in the face of a world where a god is increasingly irrelevant and reduced to just a personal security blanket.

[@Houtblokje]

Also, the argument that "god wouldn't use natural processes to create" is really weird... Didn't god create these "natural processes"? And if he created them, it wouldn't make sense if he didn't use them, right?

[@nenmaster5218]

People, seriously, the Push for Creationism and/or Evolution-Denial in Schools i way more intense than most realize: Professor Dave just made a video about the Discovery Institute, but anyway: Religion and Problematic Problems are so deeply connected and rich-in-numbers they literally spawned countless Atheist-Channel.

[@monkewithinternetaccess6107]

I really don’t think there should be any debate between creation and evolution. Is there any debate between someone who believes 2+2=5 and someone who accepts the facts?

[@dennisgilmore5464]

But what about those pesky “alternative facts”??! (Its sarcasm !!)

[@kristablake715]

Fun fact: For a calculus class project, we proved that 1+1 does not always equal 2. Wrap your mind around that! LOL

[@hayuseen6683]

Got your meaning, but maybe try a different comparison with something measurable. Using maths to make a point about material reality isn't a good analogy, as it depends on the specific maths and numeric system you're using, arbitrary parts. example in binary 10+10 = 100, and in hexadecimal 5+5=B

[@catelynh1020]

More like, you ask someone to hold up two fingers on each hand and count how many fingers are held up. Most everyone would say 4, right? We can count them, one, two, three, four. But then you have the people who put god into everything and so count it as one, two, god in the middle, four, five. No matter how many times you walk them through what should be a simple exercise, they'll have a really hard time seeing where they're wrong. Taking god out makes it not math, in their eyes

[@FalanVasRaven]

Well i for one am crying. I have learned more about evolution and science in general in the last week since discovering your channel than i did In my entire schooling years. Grew up Christian a Christian school, was one of those permission slip kids, went to Christian university and am now learning at 45 the beauty and complexity of science. Thank You Forrest.

[@Robb3636]

I am so grateful to my science teachers, and specifically to my Higher Biology teacher in high school for being patient with me in my journey to understanding evolution/biology in general, as at the time I still identified as a Creationist and was occasionally stubborn about "non-biblical" science. They are what set me down the path of doing Biology at university level, and I love learning about evolution now! One of my favourite things. Thank you so much for answering my questions and feeding my young brain.

[@kdnu27]

The thing that fascinates me in creationists is this desperate need for pieces of evidence like their faith was very weak (personally I'm not religious. There are several moments in the Bible, where God asks believers for faith and not any evidence of his acting. So creationists looking for evidence didn't get the message of the Bible at all.

[@deanmoncaster]

I would totally love to take a creationism course. Lesson one "God clicked his fingers and all the species came to be" Ok everyone that's us done now and you know everything there is to know about creationism.

[@BjerkeRobin]

Your point about the dimensions of a mind being permanently changed by the introduction of new ideas was brilliant. And permanently changed the dimensions of my mind 👌

[@SamD.Coffey]

"OK thanks love you bye" dead 💀💀💀

[@ruudvandemoosdijk2705]

There is a reason that I always liked shows that stress the importance of curiosity. Whether it's Star Trek, or Doctor Who (that constantly stresses human curiosity and adventurous spirit) or even stuff like Stargate or Indiana Jones. To want to know, to want to expand on ideas...I get that same energy from you Forrest, you have that uncompromising attitude that asking the question is more important than knowing the answer.

[@w33bghoulsan79]

When I was in school the teacher told us that "teaching evolution was mandated by the law and that they personally don't believe in it cus otherwise there would still be people half evolving today" that was history class and all the lessons consisted of was memorising the names and dates of certain skulls found. I don't think we learnt anything in science class about evolution

[@j.dragon651]

learnt?

[@soisaidtogod4248]

@@j.dragon651 Just usa education showing.

[@j.dragon651]

@@soisaidtogod4248 It seems he didn't learnt too much.

[@joshuaa7266]

In my science class we just avoided that topic entirely. Same with the big bang. It was in our textbooks (religious school so not a positive view on that) but we never used them. In a way it was better than more indoctrination and I actually don't have many problems with my time in that teacher's class, but it left a big gap in my knowledge that was partially filled when I reached college and found out that evolution actually made sense and wasn't nearly as outlandish as I had been led to believe.

[@Vyloka]

Fun fact: some people have dna genes and strands that evolved due to demand. Like the lactose tolerant gene people have and can pass down. To this day its happening and rapidly. There are people in tribes around the world with some extreme adaptations like monks who live in the mountains or rainforest diver villagers holding their breaths longer from their spleens being alot bigger than most peoples

[@oliviadaw6995]

This was brilliant, best Reacteria yet. Please never ever stop the rants.

[@AndreJNick]

As someone who was deprived of the option to learn real science as a kid, this is incredibly frustrating. I wish there was more I could do

[@oliviadaw6995]

@@AndreJNick well, you’re learning now, I say you’re doing what you can! Maybe there’s an science education organisation in your country that you could support?

[@marcelkuizenga]

@@AndreJNick You can be the hero of other people.

[@albertleibold1415]

@@AndreJNick : You do NOT learn real science from a guy who wants you to believe that you are the descendant of a fictional unicellular organism called LUCA.

[@njones420]

@@AndreJNick If you want to take a deep dive, Aron Ra does some great evolution vids. He looks a bit like a Klingon, but a lovely chap :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZ-WZoKbfc1oaMk

[@justynawelman2065]

“That makes me so angry” - said Forrest in the calmest tone with a huge smile on his face.

[@DieFarbeLila88]

Whoever has this man as a teacher is truly privileged! What an amazing person! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@sarahchristine2345]

He really is an incredibly passionate, intelligent and gifted teacher…which is why it’s so important to like and share these videos to help them reach the students who don’t have teachers like this (YT uses an algorithm based on the number of likes, comments & subscribers to decide which content to recommend to scrolling users).

[@bear3616]

His passion for teaching is amazing. You can really tell in his voice that this his passion and loves to do it. He with me such a fun and teacher.

[@thedude0000]

_Creationism in Science Class?_ When my religious family asked that stupid question..... "why do you care so much about something you don't believe in?" 🙄

[@Arc115YT]

lol the answer to this question has always been evident to me. It's about the scientific literacy of our next generation. I don't like to accuse people of being intellectually dishonest, but it's so obvious to me why people like us care about this stuff that it's hard to think of anything else they could be.

[@slevinchannel7589]

Hope we have all seen Professor Daves coverage of the eovlution-denying Discovery-Institute.

[@melinnamba]

Wow, I am so glad I grew up in Germany. The first time I heard about creationism was after I was done with school. Yes, you read that right. Creationism - not evolution - was the completely foreing concept for me. And even my parents, and I am pretty sure my grandparents aswell, were taught about evolution. There was never any question about it. What's most ironic about it, is that we look to the USA as this place of incredible advancement and progressivism. However when you spent as much time as I do watching american KZbinrs you realize very quickly that that's one gigantic misconception. Over here in Europe we are actually far ahead.

[@johnscaramis2515]

Yep, the "old continent" is not as backwards as some 'Muricans believe. Yes, the US is a high-tech country, but on the other hand it's far behind. A German cabaret artist brought it quite tio the point: "the US is not able to build something more complex than a washing machine". Complex machines do not work by praying to god, whichever it might be.

[@MarC-te4he]

I wish you had been my science teacher, Forrest. The detailed information you provide is a mental buffet!

[@mjp121]

I love that for literally EACH QUESTION I have different discussions I might have suggested. The suggestions in the video just _scratch the surface_

[@Anonymous-md2qp]

I went to a catholic school in the late 80s up until 2000 in Australia. My science education was pathetic. I’m now 37 and I absolutely love learning about all things science. I wish the internet was around when I was younger.

[@darkira2129]

Man... things like this really make it hard to believe in god or have faith in humanity, but you kinda a proof that there's still hope

[@AussieBoyLloyd]

i feel for you mate it wasnt much better after the 2000's esp catholic schools i went to one (03 to 06) and its the defining factor as to why i steered away from religion but public high school wasnt much better i was lucky and got a really good kind science teacher.. Yeah the internet man generations being born now have no idea how good they have it haha.. but its creating its own set of problems now with antisocial behaviours

[@Anonymous-md2qp]

@@AussieBoyLloyd Absolutely! As good as the internet is, there are definitely aspects that I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with in my childhood.

[@capital_L283]

God I wish you had been my teacher! I had a very similar experience with my biology teacher not teaching any evolution at all. I remember he put on a video about the life of Charles Dawin once and then never brought it up again. If I hadn't fallen in love with biology and researched it myself I might still think that evolution was garbage made to persecute the church or some other nonsense

[@nicknewham6550]

Teaching creationism as science at school perpetuates it's own myth, and reduces valuable learning time for real science. No wonder Chinese, Korean and students from other countries soar above Americans in general understanding of science when they leave school. Myths should remain as myths along with stories if Greek and Viking gods etc.

[@lidbass]

As an occasional science teacher (I teach English as a foreign language which means I have to cover grammar and vocabulary, but also geography, history, music, art, maths and science) and as someone who was trained as a scientist AND as someone who is passionate about science, I cannot thank you enough! What you said about positivism and critical thinking are EXACTLY what I try to pass to my students. I try every day to get better because they deserve it. Thank you so much.

[@teinili]

Crazy how much more of a Problem this stuff seems to be in America. In my bio class in Germany I think we had one student who didnt believe in Evolution which I'm pretty sure was already one more than usual and the teachers didnt even mention the creationist views. We talked about Evolution for like a whole year and it was the topic of most of my Abiturklausur :D

[@jana731]

Yeah here in Switzerland I actually had 2 very religious people in my Gymnasium class. All other 16 people were agnostic. Not even the two thought evolution is wrong. One even studys chemistry atm, the other began studying biology. US is kinda crazy to me sometimes 😬

[@sledzeppelin]

This is not how most of America is. Not even close. I never once heard the word “creationism” in school and was taught proper science including evolution.

[@sledzeppelin]

@@KurtFrederiksen I didn’t say anything about believing in creationism. I was talking about it not being taught in most schools as it was shown in the video.

[@sledzeppelin]

@@KurtFrederiksen Well clearly you know more about the American education system than I do, despite me having attended it, having loads of teachers and school administrators in my family, and knowing thousands of people who also attended American public schools and also were not taught creationism. Look, the US is CRAWLING with Christians. They are collectively going nuts at the moment and trying to start a theocracy. That doesn’t change the fact that creationism is not taught in most schools, or that what you saw in the video only takes place in certain areas, which is the only point I was making. You seem to be arguing against lots of things I did not say, which I find very strange.

[@sledzeppelin]

@@KurtFrederiksen DUDE, your numbers are about INDIVIDUAL BELIEF IN CREATIONISM. I am talking about WHAT IS TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS. It's apples and oranges. Calm down, bro. Like 70% of the country is christian. Do you think that also means 70% of the school day in public schools is dedicated to christianity? ""This is not how most of America is.". I then point out that can't really be true and name Gallup, Pew Research, Statista as sources for the numbers I give." Do you truly not understand that those polls do not relate to what is taught in schools? Because I can try to explain it to you more, real slow, if that will help. We have separation of church and state, for the most part. Schools are religion-free, for the most part. The places where there is LESS separation, where the teachers do break the rules and bring god into it, are largely in the southern states and rural areas of other states. This is simply a fact, and no amount of polling about what 300,000,000 people believe will change that. Because a poll about the beliefs of individuals does not tell you what the biology curriculum in US public schools is. Understand now? Please, do your best. Once again, for the slow ones: I am not disputing your numbers about belief in creationism. Those numbers, however, have near-zero to do with my statement, which was that creationism is not commonly taught in American public schools.

[@ironox8480]

I have no problem with them teaching Creationism in school. Put it in with all the religious books and where they belong. Creative writing and fiction classes.

[@allanhill7179]

They then should teach evolution in sunday school

[@josephr5764]

I love seeing how passionate and fired up you get

[@toastedbread9752]

I ´m always amazed and mortified at the same time when I hear about the creationist problem in the american school system. In Switzerland, if a teacher even dared to try slipping any religious thesis in his lessons, he would be fired and exposed publicly. Our public school system is far from perfect, and a lot of people that shouldn’t be teachers still are part of it, but neutrality on religion is a boundary that cannot be crossed. I wish good luck to the children who will have to go through this bullshit of an education.

[@marknieuweboer8099]

Suriname, as so often, is more relaxed. Teachers can talk about religion, but have to remain neutral. When pupils ask why I don't believe my answer is just "I don't see why I should".

[@alexs.5871]

live in switzerland as well. yet to encounter a swiss person who doesnt believe in evolution

[@marknieuweboer8099]

Lucky guys. In my native Netherlands it's about 23%.

[@alexs.5871]

@James Henry Smith Nah, im good fam. I'm not a fan of traumatizing little kids by telling them theyll burn in hell, or standing in front of planned parenthood and harassing and traumatizing women because abortion is never a viable option, even if a 12 yo girl is pregnant with her father's child. In general, I'm not really a fan of worshipping a megalomaniac, sociopathic genocider.

[@marknieuweboer8099]

And your his helpmate, JHS.

[@NetAndyCz]

I miss being a kid asking questions... usually to the point the teacher had no answer, though the great teachers actually did write the question down and answered it the next class. At the time I thought them stupid for knowing only what is in our textbooks and not having answer, but they were smart and actually cared about giving a truthful answer. Kids need more teachers like that, that are not afraid to admit they do not know everything, but are also willing to expand their knowledge with the kids.

[@MinaOmega]

I love how you talk about students. I wish our teachers had had this attitude. I might have respected math, even if I couldn't get it.

[@leahthorp9920]

When I was in school i loved my teachers because anything I said I had to be able to explain it. They'd challenge my views on everything from a science hypothesis to Shakespeare. They might agree they might disagree. But I was always expected to have a reason to think something

[@Sora-vw8cz]

Dude, i just found out this channel and i want to thank you for bringing such a great work you're doing here. And ask if you could translate your videos. I live in Brazil, a country that's passing by a large anti-science movement and are plenty of young people that would benefit so much by having access to this kind of reflections and discussion.

[@Sora-vw8cz]

@James Henry Smith Men... just go and get yourself a boyfriend

[@strether52]

Wilkey conveniently cites an example that exposes the weakness of the "splitter" approach: dogs and wolves CAN interbreed. I don't know what he tells his class next, but it's not hard to imagine that it's something along these lines, thereby making the "lumpers" (who, within the scientific community, are NOT creationists) look more sensible. So Wilkey is a liar on two levels: first in misrepresenting the lumper/splitter debate and second in cherry-picking his examples of speciation.

[@realhumanbean7915]

I mean Arent dog and wolves both under Canis Lupus

[@james0000]

Dogs, Coyotes and Wolves can all have viable offspring. It's not 1:1, but they are not far apart enough yet to prevent it from happening on a regular basis. There was actually a recently released study about this exact thing... they were searching for wolf breeding information and were shocked to find various markers only found from domestic dogs and from coyotes in the mix. The idea of a coy-wolf has been a joke for a long time, yet as far as they could tell, it's fairly common. Since I don't think I can post a link here anyway, just run a google search or two. I think it was a University in Ohio, but I forget at the moment. I imagine you would actually have a lot more trouble randomly breeding various dog breeds with each other compared to coyotes and wolves. Some dogs are absolutely tiny while others are massive... not a good mix for viability outside of a lab.

[@GSAtheUnparalleled]

I live in South Africa. At my school we had to attend extra lessons after school to cover evolution where the teacher rushed over some basic concepts. I actually don't remember a lot of it. I do remember learning what natural selection is and despite the teacher being so ridiculously bad with this, I had this like eureka moment as I completely understood it. It was nice. I'm now just angry about how my education was screwed up by these people. I'm having to relearn everything and I suddenly love it so much. Imagine if I learnt it earlier. Apparently the lessons were after school because the teacher didn't want to teach it to us. It makes me livid

[@Fiona-fc5ut]

US School systems are odd. How can there be a science teacher that doesn't understand scientific concepts?

[@shanewilson7994]

Underfunding, low pay, and a sizable chunk of the government trying to basically kill public education to keep the kids dumb because it increases the chances of their party being supported.

[@marknieuweboer8099]

If you want to know what the consequences are, read a few comments by AlbertL.

[@boinqity4621]

because private schools are absurdly unregulated and because of how bad public schools are we have a lot of people in private schools. most of them you dont even need any teaching qualifications to become a teacher

[@gypsylee333]

Really good comeback with bringing up that humans ALWAYS start from a single cell at conception, so it shouldn't be hard to believe billions of years ago all life started out that way. Bravo.

[@seanw3792]

But how? That sperm and egg came from a developed person. Where did that person come from?

[@gypsylee333]

@@seanw3792 wut? Obviously the first forms of life didn't come from humans or sperm and eggs. It's been awhile but I believe my point was because creationists make this argument from incredulity that "how can man evolve from a single cell organism? Dats cRaZy!" when it shouldn't be crazy to imagine since in our modern time every human starts as a couple cells.