Were you educated on Charles Darwin?

Oh, dear, it never occurred to me that anyone hadn’t learned about Darwin in school. How naïve I am. But I was well-educated 50 years ago, when there wasn’t such a push to promote a fundamentalist agenda.

Yikes.

@canidmajor Thank you for the response. In what country we’re you educated?

I’m don’t remember a specific curriculum covering him and evolution but it seems like I’ve always known about him and his theories. it seemed to be in the zeitgeist at least when I was growing up but we probably also discussed theories of evolution in high school bio class. I might not have learned about Lamarck before then.

I was educated in the United States.

@Pied_Pfeffer I was educated in the US. I was at a good private school, but my friends in public schools also had him in the curriculum. And we were all young enough to appreciate that his ship was the Beagle, and Snoopy was also a Beagle.

I am that old.

Yes, back in the 1960s when I was in high school. (public high school, not religious!).

I don’t remember if it was a Science class or a Social Studies class, however.

Yes, learned about him in Science class. Hard to believe that kids coming up haven’t heard of him.

I even have a silver fish like those religious fish except with the word “DARWIN” inside it in silver. Have another silver one like the religious fish that has feet. Wear them proudly.

Yes. I learned about him in school, in K-12. I learned about him in science and they also touched on the Galapagos having unique animals to the rest of the world as an example to reinforce his theory. I was in school in the 70’s and early to mid 80’s in NY through 4th grade and later MD until graduation, USA.

Did those coworkers attend religious schools either private or public? I’m assuming the coworkers in question were mostly educated in the UK. I don’t know if the UK has religion public schools like Canada.

Just to clarify, the co-workers that aren’t aware of Charles Darwin are in their 30s-50s; some might be from countries other than the UK (CD’s homeland, but most are from there).

I’m in my 50’s.

We need to take a Facebook poll. I’ll let you know my results.

So far the majority of people were taught about Darwin in school. People answering from around the world. UK, South America, and the US. Almost everyone saying yes went to public school, although one went to private Catholic school in the US and another went to public school, but it was religious too, Jewish, but she said the Catholic schools had the same curriculum. That was in Argentina.

Two people said no, they are both Canadian in their 70’s. One person said she wasn’t sure if she was taught it or learned it on her own, she was educated in Georgia, USA, and I think she’s in her 30’s or 40’s.

@JLeslie Thanks for taking the poll and providing the results.

It baffles my partner and me that the name Darwin would not at least ring a bell with his co-workers. To be fair, it’s production work, but they should have had a basic education, or at least, run across the topic of evolution at some point in their life at their age.

@Pied_Pfeffer I’m betting at least some of them were taught it and they didn’t have much interest so they forgot the information.

When I hear Americans don’t know the US Speaker of the House is third in line or they think NYC is the capital of NY, my bet is 90% of those people were taught the correct information in school.

In the UK is evolution vs. creationism a hot topic? Do people even talk about it once they are through their education?

@JLeslie Your guess may be right. Perhaps we learn about Charles Darwin and “The Theory of Evolution” and either accept or brush it aside. Maybe the name and term rarely, if ever, crop up in day-to-day life and is forgotten over time or at least the affiliation of the two.

In the UK, evolution is not a hot topic. One would think though that those educated in the UK should well know who Charles Darwin is.

As for other countries, this is partially why the question was asked.

Learned about it in school. Public high school. Early 90’s in California.