I’m not at all religious and here’s my opinion:
The guy’s an idiot! He’s there to teach, not to indoctrinate. If he’s going to broach the subject of evolution he should give equal time to all theories about our origins. None of us knows with 100% certainty what the answer is to the beginning of humanity or the beginning of our planet or the universe. We make educated guesses and revise them based on new knowledge as it’s gleaned from research.
This teacher should get a serious talking-to by the principal and the members of the school board so he doesn’t try to force his worldview on kids who have been raised differently.
Oh, no is he going to show that Athena did NOT spring fully armed from the head of Zeus? How will we stand it?
As a high school Biology teacher in a public High School, I can tell you what I know. We are not to inject our personal opinion during class time. It is foremost unprofessional. As far as the legality, I am not sure. What state are you in, and is the system parent driven? If it is parent driven you could get something done. Have your son do research and provide an intelligent science based argument against evolution. The data is out there.
DO NOT SEND YOUR KIDS TO PUBLIC SCHOOL!
Her introduction was quite possibly the best I've ever heard. I went into the class with a closed mind and finished the course with an A!!
Get wired up for surreptitious audio and video.
YouTube makes for a great place to expose dorks.
It’s better than teaching them to be stupid.
My gut says this may be the violation of the establishment clause - “No state shall pass a law ... or the free exercise thereof.”
Here, the state has mandated that pupils attend a state school, which avowedly “intends to completely dismiss and disprove many religious myths.” The teacher intends to attack a faith based belief of a pupil as a “myth.”
The teacher needs to be fired.
Public education denies that our children have souls. Public education is robbing our children of their faith and hope.
Also, this sounds like an introductory session. I would have serious misgivings about that teacher, but I would wait to see how the material is presented.
If this is a high school class (it may have been stated but I just got up a short time ago and the caffeine hasn't kicked in), the students do need to have their beliefs questioned and challenged. They need to know why their beliefs are true. This is inspection often comes during opposition and they have to search for supports to their faith. The students need to have an answer ready for those who question the faith. Peter says, "always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you,"
Christianity doesn't need to fear facts. All facts point to the Creator.
completely dismiss and disprove many religious myths...
And he will decide what those religious beliefs and myths are...
Further, he'll be hard pressed to try to prove the non-existence of something. That's quite a logical flaw for a purported scientist.
BTW and FWIW, I do accept evolution as a virtual certainty but see little to gain and nothing positive about attacking peoples' religious beliefs.
to your nephew:
ask him to explain the striking convergence of species split by 125 of evolution and on entire different branches of the evolutionary tree. Namely placentals and marsupials which look almost exactly the same as one another.
http://txtwriter.com/Backgrounders/Evolution/EVpage14.html
If he can’t explain this you win.
If he explains it correctly he will say that the convergence is parallel evolution of species in similar environments which favor specific gene mutations.
Respond stating that the timeline for a specific mutation to occur in a given species and become accepted with it’s DNA is longer than the life time of a species (Very rare). That him believing that the random events occurred for too many to mention lifeforms to exhibit convergence at roughly the same point in the evolutionary timeline requires blind faith by him in a hypothesis that can not be tested nor proven. Then give him a stern glance and say when he chose to begin this course by stating he would disprove religious myths he opened the dialect to include religious debate. That you choose to believe that there is a guiding force behind the evolution of species while he believes in the option of countless random events occurring to make order out of chaos. Remind him that usually that is not the case, such as in entropy. Then tell him please not to mention religion again or you will be forced to inform his boss of the matter.
I’d have an attorney contact the school. Try HSLDA. It’s their bread and butter. (HSLDA stands for Home School Legal Defense Association). They take cases in this area of law and do a masterful job. They are really good at what they do.
I’d like to add that I think it is important for your son to see you stand up about this and not just go with the flow. It may be one of the most important things you ever teach him.
Excuse me, I mean your nephew, and while it would be a good example for you to fight it, it won’t have the impact it would have were you his dad.
The man is a propagandist clearly. There is no reason in a class where reason is not allowed.
I suppose he’ll need another period to disprove God.