Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 03-17-2011, 10:10 PM

Quote:

My first full-time teaching job was as a Latin and religion instructor at a religiously-affiliated (Episcopalian) middle and upper school. I had just exited seminary, and was now faced with the rather daunting task of teaching biblical literature to classes ranging from the seventh-grade level to seniors in high school. I was highly anxious and hopelessly naïve, but still confident that I could convey my experience of academically engaging the biblical text with a critical eye to these young students. It came as a surprise then that I was most often challenged not by the students themselves who embraced such an enterprise, but the parents. One particular seventh-grader came up to me one day, relating that she told her parents of our class on the tower of Babel story as an etiology, a creative mythic account explaining why things came to be for a particular audience. "My dad told me that you are wrong and that I should not listen to you," the student sweetly said, "but I like this class anyway."

aeebee50 · 03-19-2011, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Legislation of Biblical Proportions

Quote:

My first full-time teaching job was as a Latin and religion instructor at a religiously-affiliated (Episcopalian) middle and upper school. I had just exited seminary, and was now faced with the rather daunting task of teaching biblical literature to classes ranging from the seventh-grade level to seniors in high school. I was highly anxious and hopelessly naïve, but still confident that I could convey my experience of academically engaging the biblical text with a critical eye to these young students. It came as a surprise then that I was most often challenged not by the students themselves who embraced such an enterprise, but the parents. One particular seventh-grader came up to me one day, relating that she told her parents of our class on the tower of Babel story as an etiology, a creative mythic account explaining why things came to be for a particular audience. "My dad told me that you are wrong and that I should not listen to you," the student sweetly said, "but I like this class anyway."

That is one reason why private schools thrive.

DCHindley · 03-20-2011, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Legislation of Biblical Proportions

Quote:

My first full-time teaching job was as a Latin and religion instructor at a religiously-affiliated (Episcopalian) middle and upper school. I had just exited seminary, and was now faced with the rather daunting task of teaching biblical literature to classes ranging from the seventh-grade level to seniors in high school. I was highly anxious and hopelessly naïve, but still confident that I could convey my experience of academically engaging the biblical text with a critical eye to these young students. It came as a surprise then that I was most often challenged not by the students themselves who embraced such an enterprise, but the parents. One particular seventh-grader came up to me one day, relating that she told her parents of our class on the tower of Babel story as an etiology, a creative mythic account explaining why things came to be for a particular audience. "My dad told me that you are wrong and that I should not listen to you," the student sweetly said, "but I like this class anyway."

The point of public education is not to convince students of the truth of something, but to expose students to things they need to know about to function like intelligent beings in the real world. Knowing something about religious literature that permeates every corner of our western culture is just as important as being exposed to the way math works, or physics, how to read and write, how to communicate, or how society and politics work. Even private education can only expose students to their particular POV about religion or society.

Over at Crosstalk2, there was a period when some of the professional academics were complaining about the dull headedness of many of their students and those stoopid amateurs on the board. They wanted to rid themselves of the annoyances of amateur historians/criticsm and "philosophers" (I think that was a reference to me) on Crosstalk2, going as far as to create their own YahooGroup (I am thinking of Bill Arnal and Zeba Crook). I think they honestly thought that biblical criticism was only for "experts" and that everyone else should just shut up and be dazzled by them as spectators only. In time, the group disintegrated and all posts were erased by the owners, apparently out of concern that their way-out proclamations would affect their applications for tenure.

IMHO, that kind of attitude is what can go wrong with ivory tower academia. Academics for its own sake. When academics expose students to worlds they were previously ignorant, even if they can't or won't adopt it as part of their world view, it does plant seeds of curiosity that may grow into something for the good. They should be seed planters, not rock stars.

DCH

Keith&Co. · 03-20-2011, 01:14 PM

It's amusing to me how few details need to be changed to make this a thread about how "Academic study of the Theory of Evolution is impossible in public high schools."

Largely the same parents don't want their kids learning anything they don't already approve of...and feel they know more about than the teachers.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

03-20-2011, 01:14 PM	#4
Keith&Co. Contributor Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Pittsfield, Mass Posts: 24,500	It's amusing to me how few details need to be changed to make this a thread about how "Academic study of the Theory of Evolution is impossible in public high schools." Largely the same parents don't want their kids learning anything they don't already approve of...and feel they know more about than the teachers.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.