We are indeed not doing a good job educating the public in basic science. But whose fault is that? There is active and intense pressure on school districts and individual teachers to not teach evolution, so in many places, evolution is taught in a sketchy manner or simply not mentioned. Standard biology textbooks that in previous decades had entire chapters devoted to evolution now might only have a page or two. I share the concern that science education is in jeopardy here. The industries of the future will involve biology, and US leadership in these new industries is threatened when the public does not understand biology.
Thanks for the reply. My comments are well past the failure of teaching evolution, but of science in general. If people can't tell the difference between a scientific theory and the lay use of the word, then we are in big trouble. The hard part is that there is a lot of really, really cool stuff in all disciplines, but it's difficult for many researchers to step back and communicate their work in such a way that the general public can understand it. Also, academics are not the most politically saavy people since they are used to thinking in black and white technical terms. They aren't used to or are comfortable with areas rich in opinion and weak in fact, like politics.