Monday, December 12, 2005
What Happens When You Really Teach the Controversy
About 500 members of Hersey High School freshman class, in suburban Chicago, "listened to a peppery debate last week on whether science teachers should be required to teach intelligent design," reports Graydon P. Megan in The Chicago Tribune.
"We do teach the controversy," Bruce Janu, who teaches a freshman course called "Introduction to Human Geography," tells Megan.
"In a student vote afterward," he writes, "235 said teachers shouldn't be required to teach intelligent design while 130 said they should...
"Though students don't learn about intelligent design in their science classes at Hersey, they are exposed to the issue in social studies and English classes."
Red State Rabble wonders if supporters of science education shouldn't be more vocal when we advocate "teaching the controversy" in social studies classes rather than in science as intelligent design activists demand.
Taking this tack would disarm those who see the issue through the lens of fairness. It would also insure that intelligent design claims are placed in the proper context, and taught by teachers who have the training and qualifications to handle complex social, philosophical, and religious issues.
"We do teach the controversy," Bruce Janu, who teaches a freshman course called "Introduction to Human Geography," tells Megan.
"In a student vote afterward," he writes, "235 said teachers shouldn't be required to teach intelligent design while 130 said they should...
"Though students don't learn about intelligent design in their science classes at Hersey, they are exposed to the issue in social studies and English classes."
Red State Rabble wonders if supporters of science education shouldn't be more vocal when we advocate "teaching the controversy" in social studies classes rather than in science as intelligent design activists demand.
Taking this tack would disarm those who see the issue through the lens of fairness. It would also insure that intelligent design claims are placed in the proper context, and taught by teachers who have the training and qualifications to handle complex social, philosophical, and religious issues.
