pz

Excellent point -- Chick is being extremely selective here, and still he manages to get many of the points wrong.

Dr.GH

AHH, UHH??

Nobody seems to mind that there are dinosaurs all over the poster interacting with humans, and human ancestors?

theyeti

Yeah, I did notice that now that you mention it. Given all of the other absurdities, that one seems too comical to need refutation.

theyeti

Beleg_Strongbow

It sounds like I could write a book refuting that poster. It'll be difficult to choose what I actually put up. Does Chick realize how dumb he is?

Albion

He may not be all that dumb. I do wonder if he realises how dishonest he is, though.

Godot

pz: A wondrous breakdown sir! I particularly like your counterpoint of the Augustine quote at the end. Quite poignant.

MilitantModerate

Unholy shit! You should go ballistic on this. A poster like that has no business in a public school science class. Perhaps in a Catholic/Separate or private school (although even the former would probably not be to keen on it) but I am sure the majority of ratepayers and parents would not be happy subsidizing this crap. I would talk to some authorities (ie. principal) and escalate with my parents if this did not resolve itself. The odd prayer or cross in school is one thing but actively sabotaging proper scicence education with this kind of propaganda is another.

Ergaster

As suggested, you might want to privately ask why it's there. I can think of a few reasons: 1) the teacher thinks it's true, in which case you've got a problem; 2) the teacher mistook it for something else, in which case it might be easily solved; or 3) the teacher knows exactly what it is, but mistakenly assumed that everyone would understand the, er, humour.

(Something else occurred to me while I was writing this--do all grades use this room/does he teach Grade 12 Academic biology? If so, he may be using it as a teaching tool for them; to tell you the truth, if I were teaching the Grade 12 biology curriculum, I'd be tempted to have that poster up, too!)

(One of the physical anthro profs at the University of Toronto has this poster up in her lab, but it's fairly obvious that reason (3) pertains in this case--comic relief for stressed-out grad students. )

(I'm also assuming, like everyone else, that you are referring to a high school science room).

Once you determine just why the poster is there, then you can take the next steps.

Further info: Apparently, in Ontario at least, creation can be taught at the discretion of the individual school board. As far as I know, however, it has not been an issue, if only because by law the boards must deliver the science curriculum (which does not include creationism in any form, of course), whatever else they deliver, and the new science curriculum is so damned stuffed full there's barely time to cover it without introducing any extra stuff.

The Grade 12 Academic biology curriculum is pretty much based around evolution--all the units rely on it, and a rather large chunk of it is a pretty strong Evolution unit.

The Catholic board in Ontario has an explicit statement about teaching evolution: it is basically a non-issue. Mainstream science all the way (I taught a unit on cladistics last spring as a volunteer in a Catholoc high school. That topic has been newly introduced and most teachers know virtually nothing about it--even the textbook isn't real strong on it).

Beleg_Strongbow

Yes, other teachers use the science room, as far as I know. I'm not sure if grade 12 biology is taught in that room, though (although I don't think so), and I know for a fact that my teacher doesn't teach it. I had the grade 12 bilogy teacher last year (she was teaching a 9th grade class) so I learned the school's policy on evolution. She basically said, "I'm a religious person myself, but school is the place for facts. So I teach evolution because it is based on very factual evidence." In other words, she isn't like Kent Hovind or anything.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure my teacher was the one who put it up, because he's kinda in charge of things in the science department. I don't think it was meant to be a joke, because it's next to other general science posters, pictures of trees, bird species, etc. And a student asked him a question about it (which he didn't answer very well), and you'd think he would have mentioned it then if it was meant to be a joke.

He really likes me, I think, and I work for him as well (lab assistant), so I guess if anyone's going to get it taken down, it'll have to be me.

Dr.GH

I think it might be better to post pz's refutation that merely have the poster removed.