High school teachers actually do matter

I have a confession to make. This surprises a bit:

U of Minnesota study finds high school teachers influence student views of evolution & creationism | Science Blog

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Frankly, I would have expected that by the time students are hitting high school, they are liable to have a pretty strong opinions of their own.

"I was shocked that there weren't bigger differences between majors and non-majors," said Sehoya Cotner, associate professor of biology.

That does not surprise me. I’ve found the difference between biology majors and non-majors to be very, very slight. There’s a few things I can pick out statistically, but it takes huge sample sizes. Plus, many of the people who are undergraduate biology majors are there not because of an interest in biological sciences, but because they want a way into the health professions.

(Hat tip to Dr. Kiki.)