"Science" textbook for Christian schools can't even explain electricity

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by Linus

Problem is there is no national standard in the US that I've been able to determine. In Canada, each province sets the standard but it's pretty rigorous to keeping religion out of making decisions on books unless they are religious class (there are a lot of Catholic school boards and such).

The book is published by Bob Jones University, a Protestant Christian university out of South Carolina.

I think the fact that religious schools are allowed to push this out as acceptable is what is unfortunate. Religion, for those who believe and want to study it, has, IMO, it's place in a religious class. It should not be allowed, however, to transverse over to non-religious classes.

The article is about a Christian (Protestant) School. Parents send there kids there because they WANT Christianity to permeate all areas of learning.

For Protestant Christian schools, I think the religion piece is a big part of the reason that parents send their kids to these schools. I think that this is not always the case for Catholic schools (at least around here people of all religions send their kids to Catholic schools for the academics. Parents decide if their child goes to religion class and religion is much less commonly carried over to other subjects in the Catholic schools).

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

The article is about a Christian (Protestant) School. Parents send there kids there because they WANT Christianity to permeate all areas of learning.

For Protestant Christian schools, I think the religion piece is a big part of the reason that parents send their kids to these schools. I think that this is not always the case for Catholic schools (at least around here people of all religions send their kids to Catholic schools for the academics. Parents decide if their child goes to religion class and religion is much less commonly carried over to other subjects in the Catholic schools).

The problem becomes when kids educated in these schools either leave the warm womb of Christian education and suddenly have to sit in a science class where actual science is being taught OR they wind up going to an evangelical university and then get out and only then have to actually deal with people who didn't have the same education. Then you wind up with adults who are, for any practical definition, scientifically illiterate.

We really need a rethink of educational standards in this nation. We are too large, too powerful and have altogether too much technological sophistication at our disposal to have any significant portion of our society so dramatically illiterate about science. We are the *only* major industrialized nation where denial of climate change is in the least bit intellectually respectable. We are also the only major industrialized nation where denial of evolution is in the least bit respectable.

We desperately need national science standards for students k - 12 and, quite honestly, I would like to see the universities and colleges require a full year of physics, chemistry and biology regardless of major but that's probably a pipe dream.

Cheers
Aj

[tapu]

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

The problem becomes when kids educated in these schools either leave the warm womb of Christian education and suddenly have to sit in a science class where actual science is being taught OR they wind up going to an evangelical university and then get out and only then have to actually deal with people who didn't have the same education. Then you wind up with adults who are, for any practical definition, scientifically illiterate.

We really need a rethink of educational standards in this nation. We are too large, too powerful and have altogether too much technological sophistication at our disposal to have any significant portion of our society so dramatically illiterate about science. We are the *only* major industrialized nation where denial of climate change is in the least bit intellectually respectable. We are also the only major industrialized nation where denial of evolution is in the least bit respectable.

We desperately need national science standards for students k - 12 and, quite honestly, I would like to see the universities and colleges require a full year of physics, chemistry and biology regardless of major but that's probably a pipe dream.

Cheers
Aj

So... where do you come down on freedom of religion?

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by tapu

So... where do you come down on freedom of religion?

I'm strongly in favor of people having very large ranges of latitude to practice whatever religion they prefer. I see very few areas where government has a legitimate reason to restrict religious practice. However, there is a non-trivial difference between letting religion be and granting religious beliefs the status of 'alternative truth' when it comes to questions about curriculum in public schools. Letting schools off the hook, if you will, because the most current science contradicts this or that deeply held belief sets up those religious belief as having an alternative truth that must be treated as being as equally probable when they simply are not. This sets up a great deal of confusion for people and hamstrings them in the long run.

It is imply not true that the Young Earth Creationist account of the origins of the Universe, the planet and the history of life on this planet is a viable alternative to the standard scientific account. The YEC account gets it wrong all over the place so anyone who learns the YEC account *as if it were a scientific theory* is, for all practical purposes, shut out of the mainstream of large amounts of science. We do neither them nor ourselves any favors pretending that it is any other way. I don't see this as being properly a question of religious freedom anymore than I would if some sect or another taught that pi was *exactly* 3.0 or that the angles of a triangle always add up to 100 degrees. No one would argue that any church-run school had the right to teach students that, for instance, men walked on the moon in 1869 instead of 1969 or that the Earth was at the center of the solar system. I see no reason to draw a hedge around certain scientific questions and allow church-run schools to get a pass on any subject just because it may conflict with their religious doctrines.

Cheers
Aj

[tapu]

I think private religious schools have the right to teach anything they want to, so long as they also meet state curriculum standards or Common Core, whichever in effect. That's why they call them "private, religious, schools."

[Cin]

Originally Posted by tapu

I think private religious schools have the right to teach anything they want to, so long as they also meet state curriculum standards or Common Core, whichever in effect. That's why they call them "private, religious, schools."

I would think that teaching kids incorrect information would go against the mission statement of Common Core State Standards. But I guess if these kids go to religious universities then the fact that they have been given wrong information won't hamper them much. I guess. It's a puzzler why anyone would want to hobble their kids but I imagine the religious parents don't see it that way. And I guess as long as people in the US continue to have a percentage of people who believe evolution is incorrect and that global climate change isn't happening, etc., it won't matter in the long run anyway. A study done found that 1/3 of Americans reject evolution and 14% believe evolution is "definitely true" while more than 80% of Europeans accept the concept of evolution as true. The only country included in the study that rejected evolution more consistently than the US was Turkey. But I guess that's the price we all pay for religious freedom. There is no other alternative. Look at the Catholic Church it took them over 200 years to stop believers from accepting the reality that the earth revolves around the sun and almost another 200 to pardon Galileo.

[tapu]

Oh, we teach kids plenty of incorrect information. And some would argue it isn't incorrect at all. The education system is not perfect.

And, allowing alternative belief systems to be taught in private religions schools is the price we pay for freedom of religion; matter of fact, it is the essence of it.