Friday, March 31, 2006
A Report From the Trenches
Here's what high school science teachers are facing. From the LA Times:
Times staff writer Stephanie Simon reports from a classroom in Liberty, Mo. on the reaction by students to veteran biology teacher Al Frisby as he presents the unit on evolution. Simon reports that at least half the students in his class don't believe what Frisby tells them.
What ever happened to the idea that kids went to school to learn?
Two decades of political and legal maneuvering on evolution has spilled over into public schools, and biology teachers are struggling to respond. Loyal to the accounts they've learned in church, students are taking it upon themselves to wedge creationism into the classroom, sometimes with snide comments but also with sophisticated questions — and a fervent faith.
As sophomore Daniel Read put it: "I'm going to say as much about God as I can in
school, even if the teachers can't."Such challenges have become so disruptive that some teachers dread the annual unit on evolution — or skip it altogether.
Times staff writer Stephanie Simon reports from a classroom in Liberty, Mo. on the reaction by students to veteran biology teacher Al Frisby as he presents the unit on evolution. Simon reports that at least half the students in his class don't believe what Frisby tells them.
What ever happened to the idea that kids went to school to learn?
