There's been a lot of issues in a local school district because one of the teachers thought it would be a good idea to teach his class about Intelligent Design. The argument is that Intelligent Design is not a scientific approach to the creation of the universe but is instead a version of creationism. I guess a little to close to the Bible for some people to feel comfortable.
I am not a parent, so I can only guess how I would feel if I had a child in a school where they were teaching this theory. I look at it this way, isn't the purpose of going to school to expand they way an individual thinks? Teach them things they don't know about? Present ideas, problems, solutions so the student can develop their own ideals, concepts, thoughts in an intelligent way?
If you don't want your child to grow beyond what (you), the parent knows, feels and believes, then keep them at home so they can grow up to be clones of (you).
Similarly, I was watching Primetime Live last night and they had a story on about these girls who were brought up in a white supremacist household. They interviewed these girls and were asked what do you think of Hilter? The one girl responded she thought he was a great man with great ideas. They even performed a song that sang the praises of Rudolph Hess and what a peaceful man he was. They also felt that the number of Jews slaughtered in Europe at the hands of their hero Hilter, were greatly exaggerated. That they don't think there were that many Jews even living in Europe at that time. Apparently, they were taught a different version of history than I was.
Obviously parents have a great impact on the way their children think and behave. So, if you're teaching your children well at home, why should a subject like Intelligent Design provoke several parents to actually sue a school district? Shouldn't the parents be sitting down and discussing what their children learned in school and compare/contrast it to their own personal belief system? I know, apparently I think I live in an ideal world and this kind of communication between child and parent actually exists.
9 comments:
Well, the main argument against intelligent design is that they want it taught in a science class, and people are thinking that only provable theories should be taught in a science class. Intelligent Design, by design, and if I spell it wrong, bite me, is unprovable. What they are arguing against is that creationism should be taught in church, evolution should be taught in school, and the parents that want their kids taught Intelligent Design should just put their kids in sunday school.
Personally, I'm wondering why they are teaching either to elementary and junior high students. At that age, science should be blowing stuff up and putting pinholes in cardboard to look at eclipses.
Good point on placing a large part of this issue on the parents. If the children have both parents at home, and the parents are somewhat knowledgable then Mom and Dad should be responsible for what their culture or family believes and questions. Suing the school is not the solution.
the girls are cute. you already should know my underlying views of this. although i don't let it affect my work life, and it obviously has affected my home life, i still feel that people should be allowed to believe in what they want. white supremisy/being black, most black people that i know are PROUD to be black, so why can't white people? the black people would argue here that white people still get a better deal, they have never felt oppression because of their race. what type of critism do these girls get for trying to fit into non-aryan society? oh, the same as the blacks feel, amazing.
sorry, touched on a nerve girl. espousing of parental attitude is great, but not if it is of hatred toward any other people than themselves. you may want to check the majority of black homes in america who still hold on to the sins of "our" fathers, and only give us white people the old "howdy do" to appease relationships in public. my guess, and not that my parents ever taught me this, that there will be a great race war...someday. we just have to decide what side we are on. and for many of us, it is going to be very difficult.
Both parents and schools and the general society around any child or person reflects and forms our beliefs. If a child goes to a science class, a particular set of glasses are put on that views what has been distilled in science. That is, the results of some 2000 years of western thought, are the contents of science.
While Newton, the great pillar of modern physics himself, greatly believed in God, this belief is not what is distilled from his teachings, because as he put it himself, the assumption of god is unfortunately not required to understand the physics at hand.
Science, is the isolation, of what is most salient, by method of theory and experiment and skeptism. It is an arduous test of ideas, by the most skeptical of people. In teaching science, to the young, what should be conveyed are these principles. These principles can be taught in examining the things that great men and women have long studied and trully learned about, like the motion of the planets, or the propogation of light. With regard to evolution in particular, if anything this theory should be given the least focus, rather than having a national debate about some non theory like "design for non science". Science is not evolutionary theory. Evolutionary theory is a small part of Science. Whereas the current debate has nothing to do with science. This is the problem in the debate. The debate is, is "intelligent design" science. The answer is no. If it is not science, don't teach it in science class. It really is that simple.
Mysrey, the issue I have with white supremists, or with any radical group is that it seems their viewpoints are skewed. How is it possible to discount the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people? Or to see based on historical fact that Hitler and Hess were not peacemakers. Being proud of one's race is a good thing, as long as you are not destroying another because of it.
So, APOV, all they would have to do is change the class they teach this in and everything is ok?
Carnealian, yes this is I have interpreted the problem. If this material is desired by a teacher, the place for such social debate is in a social science class, not a science class proper.
There's a difference between shielding children from a perspective and exposing them to lies as truths.
The family in that article are a bunch of sickos
I went to a Catholic high school that taught evolution and I am certain will never teach Intelligent Design.
Intelligent Design is nothing but a jab at the scientific community. Teaching creationism in school was shot down, so now they've found another way to package it. Furthermore, the central arguement in it is a logical fallacy, that because X has not been absolutely proven, Y must be true. It needs to be chucked out of schools completely. Even philosophy follows logic.
Post a Comment