Now evolving in biology classes: a testier climate - students question evolution

Christian Science Monitor ^ | May 3, 2005 | G. Jeffrey MacDonald

[From many - one.]

Are you an MIT grad in biology?

[bert]

Well samtheman You have it correct. The problem is that books must be read and students don't read, at least the students with the problem don't read.

They've been force fed Creationist dogma and developed a thick rind around their brains.

[redgolum]

There's a world of difference between a student asking a teacher because he wants to learn the answer, and a disruptor arguing with a teacher because he wants to prevent others from learning the answers.

The things that got me into trouble were the ones like "Stick your wallet in the mouth of someone having a seizure". My father worked as a medic in the Army, and he taught us to clear the area around the patient, and then tilt the head after the seizure subsided. I brought that up in class and all hell broke loose!

[steve-b]

Students are waiting with bated breath for other cabals of nitwits to invent similar objections to math, physics, history (OK, that one is already happening in the name of "political correctness), grammar, etc. Then, they can spend their days smack-talking and not have to learn a damn thing.

[From many - one.]

Do you have any good refs on "unification Church" stuff?

I continue to be worried about the funding and purposes behind this movment. There seems to be so much deliberate lying I have trouble believing there is anything truly religious about it.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

<<<>>> Those who can do. Those who can't teach.

[From many - one.]

I had a few disruptor types the time I taught "biology for non-science majors".

My response was standard:
"this is a course about what scientists conclude from the evidence we analyse. I will be happy to talk to you after class about anything else. My office hours are posted."

High school science teachers need to be trained to do the same.

[AD from SpringBay]

It creates an uncomfortable atmosphere in the classroom, Williamson says - one that he doesn't like. "I don't want to ever be in a confrontational mode with those kids ... I find it disheartening as a teacher."

Yes, we must not have discourse with the students. They should just accept what the teacher is teaching. There should be no questioning the authorities. Up the soma and bring in tha tee-vees - the little kiddies are startin' to wake up.

[PatrickHenry]

Thanks for the ping. I donno if we need to ping the list for yet another "Kansas against evolution" thread. We've had a few lately. But I guess I'd better do it. Cranking up the ping machine ...

[PatrickHenry]

EvolutionPing

A pro-evolution science list with over 260 names. See the list's description at my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail to be added or dropped.

[js1138]

http://www.tparents.org/library/unification/talks/wells/DARWIN.htm

[Aquinasfan]

"I don't want to ever be in a confrontational mode with those kids ... I find it disheartening as a teacher."

We certainly don't want children to learn how to think critically.

Now let's begin. Shut up and open your books to page ten...

[Aquinasfan]

He's just as critical of "conventional wisdom" among scientists --- past and present --- as he is of the nabobs who think they are saying something meaningful when they declare "evolution is a theory, not a fact".

Evolution is a theory, not a fact.

[Aquinasfan]

The truth is that no one knows much about the creation/existence of life because God, who does know, has chosen not to reveal it yet. So what we have is the blind leading the blind or the five blind men describing an elephant by touching one part of an immense being.

For some reason this can't be admitted. I guess it's a pride thing.

[cookcounty]

"That's because critics of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection are equipping families with books, DVDs, and a list of "10 questions to ask your biology teacher.""

And why can't the teachers pass the pop quiz?

[Aquinasfan]

I spent a lot of time in grade school suspended from after lunch recess because I would keep asking questions.

Should I laugh or cry? Schooling and education are not synonymous. In fact, they're usually opposed.

[Thatcherite]

He's just as critical of "conventional wisdom" among scientists --- past and present --- as he is of the nabobs who think they are saying something meaningful when they declare "evolution is a theory, not a fact".

Evolution is a theory, not a fact.

So, do you think you are saying something meaningful there? Do you know what scientists mean by the word "theory"?

[PatrickHenry]

Do you know what scientists mean by the word "theory"?

Most of the creationists who have a history of participation in these threads have been told, often enough, yet they persist in using "just a theory" as if it were a weakness. They won't change; creationists rarely do. But for those who don't know and want to learn: What's a Scientific Theory?

[Aquinasfan]

So, do you think you are saying something meaningful there?

Yes. I think I'm saying that evolutionary theory is an attempt to explain the origin and diversity of various forms of life.

Do you know what scientists mean by the word "theory"?

I don't know. What do you think? I think of a scientific theory as an attempt to explain a natural phenomenon through natural means.

[redgolum]

I guess I turned out ok. I had a few great teachers in high school. One actually encouraged us to ask questions like "What would the light from a headlight look like on a motor bike going close to the speed of light?". We spent a week on the theory behind the light speed equations (in 9th grade) and then he actually dug up a reference about why the beam would look rather odd.

But that teacher was the odd one. Most didn't like any dissent from the lesson plan.