The controversy has made evolution a hot-button topic that’s either lightly touched on or avoided altogether. Oftentimes, that means students don’t get the scientific education they need to become well-rounded citizens.

If it is true that 40-45% of Americans don't accept evolution, then it seems likely to me that the majority of Americans are simply not well-rounded citizens (assuming that angularity can have other causes). The concept of a well-rounded person is always going to be subjective.

A more convincing argument for including evolution in the compulsory part of the school curriculum is that without it, no rational person can make any sense of the modern world of living organisms. Unlike the physical sciences, the history of the things studied in biology is all-important to understanding their present nature.

A chemist doesn't need to know the history of a water molecule to understand its modern properties, but if anyone has no understanding of evolution, the living world around them may just as well be fairyland for all the sense it makes.