Quotation Stealing

PZ Myers at Pharyngula stole this quote from Mike the Mad Scientist, and I am stealing it from PZ here:

Mike the Mad Biologist wins a gold star for this quote that I'll be stealing:

The other thing we evolutionary biologists don't do enough of, and this stems from the previous point, is make an emotional and moral case for the study of evolution. Last night, I concluded my talk with a quote from Dover, PA creationist school board member William Cunningham, who declared, "Two thousand years ago someone died on a cross. Can't someone take a stand for him?"

My response was, "In the last two minutes, someone died from a bacterial infection. We take a stand for him."

Now that is good framing.

Science Education

Why is it that otherwise well-educated people are embarrassed to mention that they've never read Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, or that they don't know who Chaucer is, but when it comes to science, instead of being embarrassed that they don't understand evolution, or genetics, or basic anatomy, or basic cell biology, or how carbon emissions affect the environment, or (i could go on for a while here)...the response is "well, i never was very good in my science classes" ?

These are important things for educated, informed people (voters!) to understand. How can they vote in elections without understanding the very basics of stem cell research, cloning, climate change, creation/evolution/intelligent design, and so on?