Posted on 02/10/2003 1:34:15 PM PST by Remedy
Yale trained Benjamin Spock, M.D., is the author of one of the bestselling nonfiction books of all time, a guide for parents titled, Baby and Child Care. First published in 1946, it has sold over 50 million copies and has been translated into 42 languages. His writings and ideas have influenced so many millions of mothers that he has been called affectionately the nation's "baby doctor" (Spock and Morgan, 1989; Bell, 1966). His influence in the world has been so profound that Dr. Spock was named one of the hundred most important people in the twentieth century by Life magazine (Maier, 1998, p. 298). He also is widely considered the most influential child care authority of the twentieth century (Britannica Year in Review, 1998).
During his long and distinguished professional career, Dr. Spock taught at several of the nation's leading institutions of higher learning, including Cornell University, the University of Minnesota, and Case Western Reserve University. Always a good student, he graduated first in his class at Columbia University Medical School (Lewkonia, 1998, p. 825). His lifelong interest in, and love for, people made him develop into an astute observer of the human condition (Philpot, 1979). His interest in this field motivated him to author a dozen books and hundreds of articles on child care and the major social problems of our age. He was active in helping humanity in numerous organizations until he died in March of 1998, a few weeks before his 95th birthday (Lewkonia, 1998; Collum, 1998).
Dr. Spock was first introduced to Darwinism at Yale University, and he referenced Darwin and his ideas several times in his books. Even in his classic work, Baby and Child Care, under the subheading, "They're repeating the whole history of the human race," Spock wrote that watching a baby grow is "full of meaning" because,
the development of each individual child retraces the whole history of the human race, physically and spiritually, step by step. Babies start off in the womb as a single tiny cell, just the way the first living thing appeared in the ocean. Weeks later, as they lie in the amniotic fluid in the womb, they have gills like fish. Toward the end of the first year of life, when they learn to clamber to their feet, they're celebrating that period millions of years ago when our ancestors got up off all fours. It's just at that time that babies are learning to use their fingers with skill and delicacy. Our ancestors stood up because they had found more useful things to do with their hands than walking on them (Spock and Rothenberg, 1992, p. 301).
Spock Recognizes the Harm That Darwinism Did to Society
Dr. Spock eventually recognized the serious harm that Darwinism had done to people's lives and to society in general (Bloom, 1972). The insight Dr. Spock gained is the story of many individuals of our time. His biographer, Lynn Bloom, stated that it was inevitable that Spock, "frustrated in his attempts to express fully his views on various social or political issues in magazine columns," would elaborate his conclusions in a book. His book, which Bloom calls "Spock's spiritual autobiography," was "the distillation of a lifetime of his varied thoughts on the problems of modern western man, Americans in particular." In this book he concluded that man has lost his belief in himself and his sense of direction because the concepts of evolution, of psychology, and of sociology have undermined the authority of religion and man's identification with God.
They have induced man to belittle himself, to conceive of himself as merely an animal divisible into a number of mechanical parts and drives (Bloom, p. 213, emphasis mine).
In his spiritual autobiography, Dr. Spock notes that he was reared in a family "with stern morals even by New England standards." He then admitted that he tried to free himself from these strict standards throughout his adolescence and young adulthood because he believed then that a "knowledge of biology, psychology, and sociology should offer sufficient guides for a modern man." His lifetime of reading, practicing as a pediatrician, college teaching, talking with parents, and researching the problems of Western society caused him to,
come to realize that the worst problems of America-illegal war, racial injustice, unnecessary poverty, for example are caused not by lack of knowledge or means [to solve these problems] but by moral blindness or confusion (1970, p. 207, emphasis and bracketed item mine).
Table I shows the increase in some major social problems that have occurred in the past half century alone. Obviously these problems are due to several factors, a major one being the secularization of society and what Dr. Spock calls "a moral blindness." Dr. Spock concluded that this moral blindness that produced many of our modern social problems was the direct result of modern secular teachings resulting from Darwinism, Freudianism, and other humanistic philosophies. In Spock's own words, the major reason for our most serious social problems was the weakening of the influence of religion that resulted especially from the influence of Darwinism and our increasingly secular society:
The teachers in the early colonial schools and universities of the United States were predominantly Protestant ministers whose principal aim was to teach religious principles and to train more ministers, who became the next leaders of the community. . . . By the second half of the nineteenth century the discovery of evolution and the development of various behavioral sciences further weakened the authority of the churches as educators. As the need for schools and universities mounted they were established increasingly by towns and states. Now the Supreme Court has forbidden in public schools even the vaguest of prayers (Spock, 1970, p. 207, emphasis mine).
Dr. Spock realized that many of the movements with which he had once agreed had caused an enormous amount of harm in our society. As a result of his insight, he admitted that he had "come full circle, in the end, to a feeling that it is crucial, in all issues, to consider the moral dimension" when trying to solve social and societal problems (1970, p. xiii). The major source of morality in the West, he realized, was the Judeo-Christian heritage, which has been seriously undermined by Darwinism, Freudianism, and the secular humanistic philosophies taught in our schools and by society as a whole. In his words, he "grew up with the century" (Spock and Morgan, 1989).
Unfortunately, Spock's insight about these issues came late in his life when there was little he could do about them. While he recognized that Darwinism was harmful, he had assumed the theory was supported by verifiable scientific facts. His own references to the alleged evidence for Darwinism have been refuted long ago. For example, we now know that almost every concept noted in the quote above from Spock's Baby and Child Care book was wrong. The theory that an embryo repeats its evolutionary history has been shown to be based on forgeries (Wells, 2000; Bergman, 1999; Frair, 1999). Furthermore, neither embryos nor fetuses have "gills like fish." Spock recognized that evolution had done much harm in society, but his belief that the evidence which supported evolutionism blocked him from doing much about the problem. This illustrates the importance of stressing current research, which shows that most of the icons used to support evolution are either outright frauds or based on extremely tenuous and debatable evidence (Wells, 2000).
Acknowledgments: I wish to thank Bert Thompson, Ph.D.; John Woodmorappe, M.A.; Clifford Lillo, M.A.; and Wayne Frair, Ph.D., for their comments on earlier drafts of this article. *Dr. Bergman is on the Biology faculty at Northwest State College in Ohio.References @ source url
Jerry R. Bergman, Ph.D. Evaluation and Research
He received a B.S. with major areas of study in Education, Psychology, and Biology, a M.Ed. in Psychology and Counseling, and a Ph.D. in Evaluation and Research with a minor in Psychology from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. He also received a M.A. in Social Psychology from Bowling Green State University and a M.S.B.S. in Biomedical Science from the Medical College of Ohio, Toledo. Dr. Bergman has published over 350 papers in secular journals as well as creation science publications.
Honors:
1992 Whos Who in Theology and Science
Since 1992 Marquis Whos Who in the Midwest
1998 Edgar Langsdorf award for excellence in writing.
2000 Marquis Whos Who in America
2000 Whos Who Among Americas Teachers.
Member of MENSA (requires members to be in the top 2 percent of the population intellectually)
Professional Experience:
Adjunct Instructor of Pathology and Research Associate, Department of Experimental Pathology. Adjunct instructor appointment was Sept. 1998 to April 2000. Medical College of Ohio, Toledo, Ohio 43614
Instructor of Science, March 1986 to date at Northwest State College, Archbold, Ohio, Department of Arts and Sciences, teaching primarily biology, biochemistry, genetics, zoology, chemistry, and anthropology classes. Dr. Tom Stucky, Dean. Also served on academic affairs committee for five years, and chair for two. Served on several search committees, and as a consultant for a score of science text books. Developed many new sciences courses, and worked with the faculty in developing several new degree programs.
Adjunct Professor at Indiana Wesleyan University Marion, IN, supervising masters theses in an MBA program designed for established professionals (almost all of the fourteen students supervised have undergraduate degrees in engineering, nursing or related areas). Among the topics supervised include health care, specifically development of a program which can provide the necessary training so as maternity client patients are able to deliver their baby, and be home within a day or so. This program includes counseling and training during maternity, as well as a program of follow-up so as the baby can receive home care, and health evaluations as necessary. Many of the other theses were in the engineering area. One student is completing his masters thesis on designing and engineering a computer operated feed-back program in the production of cable coating which will increase quality control by use of sensors (heat, thickness, color, etc.) so that feedback is more direct and immediate, reducing the need for destructive testing as well as waste when quality control goes beyond the required tolerances.
Instructor of Math and Science, September 1980 to June 1986 at University of Toledo. Dr. Amand, last Department Chair. Taught a wide variety of classes to engineering, business, nursing and other students at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Also taught general science/biology and behavioral science classes part time at Defiance College, Defiance Ohio, and Owens Technical College, Toledo, Ohio during this period.
Associate Professor of Psychology, September 1981 - December 1982. Department of Psychology, Spring Arbor University, Spring Arbor, Michigan 49283. Taught in the psychology, biology, sociology area.
Assistant Professor, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, September 1973 - June 1980. Teaching general education, psychology and assessment classes. On both undergraduate and graduate faculty. General duties in connection with position include research, consultation, writing and publication, as well as extensive work with students both educationally and as a pedagogical therapist.
College Instructor. Teaching Psychology, Sociology and Corrections at Oakland Community College, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Worked in developing several innovative programs. Rated in 90th percentile in O.C.C. student rating system.
Research for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) on the criminal population for the community treatment project for second felony offenders (the results were published by NCCD). Research experience in this position includes developing measuring techniques, designing and using a wide variety of psychological tests, evaluating psychological programs, system rates research, gathering, coding, and summarizing data using computer, writing reports, writing the conclusions and research findings, evaluating on-going programs (including group counseling, marriage counseling, drug groups, individual counseling), writing progress reports for publication and general public dissemination, speaking about the project to college classes and organization including the Rotary, Kiwanis, and Birmingham Community groups. Also, involved with group and behavior modification therapy, and the more traditional psychoanalytic chemotherapy and counseling techniques. In-service training included readings and application of behaviorism in dealing with several types of abnormal behavior. Worked in developing practical applications of behaviorism in treating sexual, social, and drug offenders.
Primary and Secondary Science Teacher, Lamphere School District, Madison Heights, Michigan, and Clawson High School, Clawson, Michigan. Taught Biology, Physics, General Chemistry, and Drafting, both classes and labs. Used behavioral objectives in designing lessons under a highly structured teacher accountability system. Utilized the discovery approach in teaching science, and formal behavior modification techniques for most classes. Designed and developed research projects on creativity, studied use of rating scales, internality/externality scales and other psychological tests as applied to education. Extensive use of the computer and writing programs in evaluating educational data.
Psychologist, Arlington Psychological Associates, Toledo, Ohio and Toledo Pain and Stress Center. Worked worked as a clinical psychologist (registered with the State board of Psychology as a psychological assistant). Among the treatment methodologies I worked with included biofeedback (electromyogram, electroencephalogram, galvanic skin response and pulse), cognitive control, visual image, rational emotive and Rogerian therapy, hypnosis and autogenic and progressive relaxation (Jacobson and other methods). Also worked with typical private psychological clinic client.
For a detailed look at his accomplishments, etc., click here.
The notion of God believing in something doesn't make much sense to me, but the notion of God "believing in" Darwinism is less nonsensical than the notion of God "believing in" Creationism (as it applies to biology).
Too little, too late; it was because of Spock that I was left to cry in my crib until the rigid timetable said it was feeding time. Now I know I can blame Darwin for that, too!
But it all comes down to what you mean by "Creationism". If you mean "anything God does", then yes, God would have to be a creationist. If you mean the trivially refuted myth from Genesis (which is typically what people mean when they capitalize the word "Creationism"), then my answer would be, "a sensible one".
That's a notch above graduate assistant, but not as well paid. Where is he now? The Medical College of Ohio does not list a Department of Experimental Pathology.
You have that exactly backwards. It was Spock who argued against feeding schedules.
That was too easy. Next!
Oops! Darwin is still to blame!
Thanks for the link. Uh ... I mean, bless you, my son. From now on, you may call me "Rev." (If you could find it in your heart to send me an appropriate love offering, say about ten bucks, that would be nice. You'll be glad you did.)
Will Zimbu the monkey be keynoting that day?
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