>Well maybe you are not offended, but do you really want your second grader
>being taught that he or she originated from an ocean of chicken soup?
Umm, I'm not sure I can let that pass without comment. I have a third
grader and a 8th grader, so my experience with what is being taught is
fairly immediate. At the second grade level, at least within Texas they
are still at the "this is a rock, this is water, what is a molecule, what
is a simple machine". Second graders aren't taught anything about origins.
What concerns me is not so much Art's comments, but an anti-educator
straing that I hear from some Christian groups - as though teachers are all
out there just to divert our children from the path of religion. As someone
who is privileged to count among her friends a number of elementary
teachers - and who has a high regard for their patience and care, I find
that strain insulting to good, decent - and yes, Christian - people who
tackle a job that most of us wouldn't even dream of trying.
Art, I certainly won't dispute what you heard at the Humanist Convention -
but taking that as a representation of all educators or all people who see
the origins question differently that you is akin to when an atheists
visits something like one of the white supremacist churches and then claims
that all Christians think that way. You know that's not accurate - to take
the lunacy of a small group and extend it so broadly.
Janet Rice
rice@mcc.com
512-338-3266