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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:
National science literacy expert and Michigan State University professor Jon Miller is having a running clinic at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.
The goal is to inspire, educate and arm scientists to run for school boards.
It's what we spend our time doing because we believe in it, and we have to realize public schools don't just come to be.
In August, he published a survey in Science magazine that showed that about 40 percent of the American population does not believe in evolution, a figure which is much higher than those found in similar surveys in European nations and Japan.
Miller is the Hannah Professor of integrative studies and director of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth at MSU.
Miller sees other special interest groups, often conservative or religiously fundamental, highly organized in training and supporting candidates.
"It doesn't do any good if they get in, and discover they don't have the time or commitment to do the job.
Miller estimates that a stint on a public school board demands 15 hours a week of work and being prepared to immerse in more than one issue.
No scientist can run on a pro-evolution platform and not expect to find themselves engaged in other issues.
But that, Miller says, is the point -- to lend expertise and knowledge to create a strong school district that channels good, well-prepared students to successful college careers.
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Posted on February 14, 2007 10:38 PM
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