Posted on 12/26/2006 11:24:45 AM PST by rhema
I teach eleventh-grade religion at a respected and flourishing Catholic college-prep high school in the state of New York. My students are bright and talented kids, the children of some of the most successful people in this part of the state. Our discussions on morality are a window into the culture that nurtures them at least as much as most of their families do. We recently tackled abortion.
A few students tried to make abortion a feminist issue, but interestingly, only a very few. Most, including the young women, react to the idea of feminism with disdain and jokes, and some girls asserted that women would be expected to be more pro-life than men because they’re the ones with the maternal instincts. Note to NOW: Your message has missed the youth, at least the ones living in the area that gave birth to the American feminist movement.
A few others defended abortion as a necessary means of birth control or even population control. But the most prominent line of thinking by far was, well, not thinking. When presented with the facts of fetal development or abortion methods or ethical reasoning, student after student preferred either comfortable unawareness or bold-faced denial of plain fact.
That’s a strong assertion to make. Examples are in order.
Student Preferences
The first sign of what was to come appeared on the first day of class discussion, as one student (I’ve changed all names below) tried to dismiss moral objections to abortion.
Steve: It’s not like we’re talking about a living person here.
Me: What do you mean?
Steve: Well, the heart doesn’t even start beating until it’s like five months along.
Me: Five months?
Steve: Sure.
Me: Actually, it’s more like three weeks.
Steve: No way. That’s not true.
Now, every one of these college-bound
(Excerpt) Read more at touchstonemag.com ...
Me: But can that kind of thinking ever become the foundation of our laws, even if some unreasonable folks want to base their personal decisions on it? If we do, laws just become a matter of who has the power, not what’s right and true. Laws would simply be what the lawmaker wants them to be, for his own convenience. .... Samantha shrugged.
Shrugging seems to be prevelant among libs about lots of issues, I've found. For example, one explained to me that she was okay with the abolishment of the Electoral College and wanted everything at all times to be decided by popular vote, since "most of the time, the majority vote is the way I vote anyway."
Ping for pro-life.
Not sure what you mean.
Dear BW2221,
I'm told by a professor in the philosophy department that things at Catholic are looking up. He says that the younger faculty are mostly much more orthodox.
sitetest
the children of some of the most successful people in this part of the state.
Why do we confuse degrees and money with intelligence and morals.
This teacher's just bitter because he couldn't cut it in a publik skrool. /s
I could only imagine what ignorance on abortion would be found in the gub'mint skool sistum.
"Steve: It’s not like we’re talking about a living person here."
Humans give birth to humans.
A 1 year old infant is vastly different than a 30 year old person. A baby in a womb is vastly different than a 1 year old baby. BUT THEY ARE ALL HUMAN!
What a mincing little creep...
Incredibly telling. Her support of abortion is so blind that she will assert her right(?) to believe a lie in order to defend the practice. God help us if this girl or her ilk take over the country. Then again, maybe they already have.
Got it - I didn't understand your comment, till I clicked through and read the entire article. Sorry.
That's good. I had a niece that graduated from Catholic U. about a dozen years ago. It destroyed her faith (although she was somewhat screwed up before enrolling).
"I'd be willing to bet Mr. Michaels received some phone calls from irate "Catholic" parents over this one."
If it's anything like the Catholic high school my son recently graduated from, the principal's response would be, "If you don't want you child being taught Catholic doctrine, you should remove him/her from Bishop Foley."
Go Ventures!
Dear BW2221,
I graduated about 25 years ago. It wasn't a particularly good time, in terms of Catholic orthodoxy.
However, I guess I took a bit of perverse pleasure in being one of the few relatively-orthodox Catholics in my classes. ;-)
sitetest
Jesus Wept.
As a teacher myself, I saw something here that the author didn't comment upon. Many of these students are filled with positive self-esteem and what they would describe as "not being judgmental." They have translated "you have freedom of speech" into "I have a right to believe whatever I want and you are rude to try and change that."
I see this every day in my classroom. Kid after kid comes into my room filled with the belief that their ideas, actions, notions, and beliefs are good simply because they hold them. What used to be called "discussion" isn't possible because many kids refuse to be "judgmental."
I attack this in two ways. First, the research is clear after 30 years of self-esteem based teaching methods that self-esteem is not only ineffective for motivating students, it actually hurts academic performance. Some of my colleagues were born and raised in the 1970s and 1980s, and, as one of them told me, "80 percent of my job is improving self-esteem." I provide the counterpoint at my school.
Second, I attack the idea of being "nonjudgmental" head on. When a kid tells me he or she is "nonjudgmental," I respond that that is a harsh judgment. Considering yourself "without judgment" is impossible. I ask the student if they are nonjudgmental about child abuse or genocide. Eventually, the student comes to the understanding that the ability to make rational and sound judgment is the hallmark of a successful adult. Now, that's just in my classroom, but it's a seed planted in that kid's mind.
I think the teacher in this article is doing the same thing with abortion. Good for him. Part of my job is to promote rational thought, which isn't the default for many people. It's a fine line between teaching and preaching, too; I often have to stand back and let things just go instead of jumping in to "fix" something. I really admire what this teacher does in his classroom.
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