how do you manage? (was Re: [Fwd: The Scout Report...)

[Stefan Jeglinski <jeglin@4PI.COM>]

> i have the same problem teaching astronomy and geology to my el ed majors.
> turns out about 95% of the 200 i had last semester were adamantly
> creationist.  teachers here in SC tend to avoid the topic at best to avoid
> upsetting parents.  and many come through "christian schools" where
> creationism is taught as fact. real struggle to teach geology and astronomy
> to this bunch!


Well, I'm curious as to what ultimately happens in your situation.
Clemson is a "major" school (no offense to those at "minor" schools
:-) and 95% is an incredible obstacle to overcome. Do you just teach
it properly anyway and endure the students' sneers? Do you think the
experience makes them even more likely to teach creationism because
they feel they've tangled with Satan and won? Do you give them Fs on
their papers and tests? Are you thoroughly depressed at the end of
each semester?

And do you ever... make any progress?

I've never faced this in such an overwhelming fashion, but frankly it
scares me. In college when I was a TA for an astronomy class, it was
a real struggle when I gave someone a C for drawing in weird square
objects around Saturn (written report following an observation lab).
He claimed he actually saw them, and in the best possible effort to
follow the course objectives, hypothesized on their origin (alien of
course) and developed a theory. I was already torn, I felt I should
have given him an F but wavered (faltered) when I realized he was
trying to be serious. When he challenged the C I gave him and I
insisted we return to the telescope that night to view again
together, he once again claimed he saw them. Of course the objects
were not there, but I found myself maybe thinking he really did see
them although they clearly were NOT there (mental imageries, LSD?).
This turned into a huge fiasco, the professor told me I should have
given him an F to begin with, and he later turned out to be such a
PITA that I wished I had also, and he eventually transferred out of
the class. This was an otherwise reasonable 30-ish person in
continuing ed, not some "dumbass college punk." It didn't help that I
was a dumbass college punk myself.

Now I am older and cynical, and would dismiss such posturing with
prejudice. And yet, I still worry about doing so to someone who will
certainly get a "bad taste" in their mouth for high and mighty
scientists who finally tell them, after generous attempts at
explanation, that they just don't know what the hell they are talking
about.


Stefan Jeglinski