Here's an old Gallup Poll I came across today which asks of people: Do you believe in the theory of evolution?

First off, here's the exact question that was posed to those polled:

"Do you, personally, believe in the theory of evolution, do you not believe in evolution, or don't you have an opinion either way?"

So, we're not talking about evolution vs. Creationism here. That's a different discussion that has no bearing on the point I'm about to make.

The chart that interests me is the second one, labeled "Belief in Evolution, by Education Level." It's clear from the chart that as you move from one level of "highest education attained" to the next, the proportion of people that believe in evolution increases, but that's not what interests me here.

What interests is at the left of the chart: of those sampled, 52% people with an education level of "High school or less" said they had no opinion about the theory of evolution. That means that half the people who were asked about a rather complicated topic chose to say, "I don't know."

You could point to this as an indicator of a few things. As one example, maybe high schools are failing to teach our kids about the theory of evolution to the point where they feel they can have an opinion about it. And maybe you'd be right. But what amazes me is that the people sampled here were smart enough to know that they didn't know.

I have trouble buying that someone who says "I don't know" when asked a question is stupid. If that's the honest answer, then it's a smart move.

Of the postgraduate students polled, a full 74% said they believed in the theory of evolution. The important question: of them, how many studied evolutionary biology in their years of higher education? How many of them could defend the theory of evolution and back it up with evidence? How many of them know anything about the theory of evolution beyond its existence in the scientific community?

I'm a "College Graduate" in the classification the graph offers. But I never actively studied biology, and to the extent I was forced to in order to fulfill academic requirements, I didn't really pay much attention. I have friends with strong opinions about this one way or the other, and while I'm familiar with their thoughts, they're not substantial enough to base my own opinion on them.