What’s more off the wall? A Christian school teaching students that the Loch Ness Monster is a living dinosaur and proof of creationism? Or science supporters who continue to believe that public schools can significantly boost science literacy?

The Cato Institute’s Neal McCluskey suggests it’s a toss-up. He responded yesterday to the Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss, who predictably skewered vouchers after reports surfaced about some private schools using a biology textbook that says, “Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence. Have you heard of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’ in Scotland?”

“I can certainly see why paying for this sort of thing would disturb a lot of people … ,” McCluskey wrote. “Let’s, however, use this to confront another, extremely dubious belief that many would never challenge:  Government schooling leads to good science instruction.”

McCluskey efficiently lines up the evidence. A Gallup poll this month found only 15 percent of Americans believe human beings evolved without any involvement from God. National test scores show more private school students are proficient in science than public school students. And surveys show many public school biology teachers give short shrift to evolution because it’s too much of a mine field. “The result is that no one, no matter what their beliefs, gets coherent biology instruction,” McCluskey wrote.

I took a whack at this issue a few weeks ago, after a New York Times piece on tax credit scholarships cited examples of creationist teaching in private schools. (more…)