Posted on 10/30/2003 6:10:17 PM PST by Dales
STILLWATER— Neither registered nor write-in candidates for the District 834 School Board believe that Minnesota educators should teach creationism. Two candidates, however, said teachers should not deny students the opportunity to discuss in school theories that challenge evolution.
Origin-of-life debates arose anew in Minnesota last month after the Minnesota Education Department released accidentally two drafts of its new standards for teaching science — drafts which differed only in how they prescribe how educators should teach evolution. One draft version included words such as “might,” “may” and “possible” in language that some believed was designed to question evolution’s veracity.
A recent Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “creationism” as a “doctrine or theory holding that matter, the various forms of life, and the world were created by God out of nothing and usually in the way described in Genesis,” the Bible’s first chapter.
The five officially registered School Board candidates — incumbents David “Choc” Junker, Christy Hlavacek, Mary Cecconi and John Uppgren, and challenger Andrée Aronson — discussed the debate about mankind’s origins at a candidates’ forum at Stonebridge Elementary School on Oct. 7. Write-in candidates Christopher Kunze and Nancy Hoffman addressed the matter in e-mail interviews earlier this month
Questions about creationism did not arise in Tuesday night’s candidate’s forum October 21 at Stillwater Area High School.
“Do you agree with teaching (creationism) in public school?” Stillwater resident Scott Neestrum asked in the Oct. 7 candidates’ forum. “And, if you don’t, how would you combat it?”
Aronson indicated a personal belief in creationism, but said unequivocally that Minnesota educators should not teach creationism as fact. Cecconi and Kunze both said that the state should not prohibit discussion of creationism.
“It’s very important to have creationism presented to learning people ... to try and get some feel for ‘This is out there?’” Cecconi said. “I think it’s wrong to keep anything silent and say ‘It’s not there.’ I think the teaching of ‘Guess what, this is coming down the pike, what do you think?’ (is acceptable). As far as scientifically, I am straight on the lines of evolution.”
Uppgren, Hlavacek and Hoffman each said that local churches are better suited to teach creationism.
“I’m worried about teaching math and science and writing well — we do not have time to be bothered by these political games that people play that have other agendas. ...” Uppgren said. “We do not have time to address these nuisance ideas that legislators have, because they’ve never bothered to come and sit down and talk with the School Board.”
Said Hlavacek: “We do not have enough time, energy and money to put into teaching something that will not further our student achievement. ... I strongly oppose that.”
Junker, who asked Neestrum to define creationism for him, did not specifically answeer the question, but said he doesn’t “like the idea of religion mixed with politics.”
Below each of the following sub-headings are additional excerpts from each of the candidates’ responses to Neestrum’s question. The official candidates answered in the forum. The write-in candidates answered via e-mail, a few days after the forum. Responses have been edited for space and usage, and in some cases, to omit digressions not germane to the creationism debate.
The candidates in the forum also discussed transportation issues, parents’ role in the education process, Minnesota’s new education standards, and the many challenges facing schools here and throughout the state.
Aronson
Said Aronson: “I do not believe that creationism should be taught in schools. ... Creationism is one of many beliefs of how the world was started, and that is a different (theory than) scientific evolution. Evolution is based on science and research.
“Creationism might be my personal belief, but that’s what it is — it’s a belief. And I don’t think that they should mix.”
Hoffman
Said Hoffman, a confirmation guide for a second year at Trinity Lutheran Church: “People can make a difference in our youth, and participate in many ways at their local churches and use these opportunities to help our youth develop their faith belief system.”
Cecconi
Said Cecconi: “This is one of those questions where you have your personal belief and then you have your board hat. And first off ... personally, I am absolutely opposed to ... the teaching of creationism in a public school.
“However, I have to say that I would like ... my own children to be able to have that conversation in a very lively way with a lot of students who can give them different feelings — maybe in a literature course, maybe something that’s not being taught to them; definitely not proselytizing. As a board member, I think I need to fight that tooth and nail.”
Kunze
Said Kunze: “I do not believe that religious views should be taught as absolute truth in schools, but I also believe that a healthy discussion of major beliefs is acceptable and beneficial.”
Uppgren
Said Uppgren: “All I can say with certainty is (that) we have very good churches in our community. And it seems to me that we’ve done a pretty good job as a culture of taking more and more things away from churches. It wasn’t long ago that churches organized sports, they handled a lot of social activities. And suddenly, that’s become the domain of independent associations and schools and things like that. ... I have a lot of faith in churches in this community to do an excellent job of teaching creationism.
Hlavacek
Said Hlavacek: “I would not support the teaching of creationism in school. I strongly believe that role belongs to the churches in this community, not to the ... public schools that we (as School Board members) represent.”
1) This would also be a very bad thread to engage in flamewarring or flamebaiting.
2) It would also be wrong to try to guess my stance from me posting this article.
My kids attend private Christian school. I would be upset if they didn't learn the theory of evolution...as a theory.
Isn't the search for truth inimical to lock step acceptance of dogma?
I don't want to get sucked into the discussion...don't want to...must resist. But dagnabit, I have a weakspot for polls. Blast you!
You are absolutely right about the way that bias can be introduced into opinion polls by the way the question is phrased. It happens all the time, in polls of every variety.
Not in science class, no! Science classes should be teaching kids what the consensus view of working scientists is. And that's evolution, overwhelmingly.
How are we supposed to function as a nation if half the people aren't taught what the other half believe, at least enough to understand the way they think and where they are coming from?
I don't see anything wrong with that. But the underlying debate in the school boards across the country is more what the official curricula and textbooks will be. That's quite different than discussing a fringe theory in class when a student asks about it.
I think a good analogy is discussing astrology in astronomy class. Should astrology be included in the textbooks? Hardly. (Except to point out why it can't be right.) Or discussing Communism in economics class. Sure, it's historically important, but should the textbooks describe it neutrally, as in "here's another theory that some economists hold"? I would hope not!
Well, intellectually & professionally, creationism is just as far from the consensus view of science as those two. I say HS science classes should treat it with the same amount of deference. (Ditto for undergrad college courses.)
Now, in upper level college classes, it might be different. I wouldn't mind seeing a graduate level seminar in ID, if a professor wanted to teach one. Colleges seem to be the place where any damfool idea can get a respectful hearing. :-)
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