Twenty years later, Micah Spradling, a pre-med student at Texas Tech University, applied for entrance to Southwestern University’s medical school. In order to complete his application, he needed a letter of recommendation from a specific faculty member, Michael Dini, an associate professor of biology at Texas Tech. Dini required that in order to receive a letter of recommendation with his signature, a student was required to meet a three part criteria. The first two criteria were standard academic requirements. The third criteria, however, is one Spradling was not prepared to fulfill. Dini asked that Spradling “truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer” to the question: “How do you think the human species originated?” Spradling was denied a recommendation based entirely on the fact that he did not accepted Darwinism as a fact.
Ping for later reading - despite grammar and spelling errors
> In 1983, Dr. John Patterson, self-avowed atheist and evolutionist, was serving as one of the members of the Iowa State University committee on instruction in the sciences and humanities.
One of the best teachers I ever had. I had him for only one class, his last semester there before retiring; I forget exactly what the course was supposed to be (materials science, I think), but he turned it into "how not to be a dumbass engineer." One of his common teaching tactics was magic tricks, which he was quite good at. A good engineer would figure out how such a trick was done *without* resorting to the supernatural or magic powers or the like. Those who refused to believe that a trick was just a trick (there were a few)... did't fare so well. As it should be, for engineers.
Another big aspect of his course was "how to be an *ethical* engineer." Not just how to do the math, but when to stand your ground with honesty. A firm recognition of what the facts say, even when they say you're dead wrong. And ignore people's feelings (including yours, your boss', etc.) when it comes to facts, as engineers hold peoples lives in their hands. When you design based on feeling, you get the Titanic.
We need more teachers like him.
> Spradling was denied a recommendation based entirely on the fact that he did not accepted Darwinism as a fact.
A note: a teacher is within his rights to recommend, or not, whever he likes. Someone whom he feels has failed to learn the subject or the methodology... well, too bad.
You certainly can spell "arrogant", can't you? You either read that or you did not. If you nit-picked out "all the grammar and spelling error" then you read it.