Re: Challenges to teaching biology

--- Pim van Meurs <pimvanmeurs@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Man, that's truly sad. Imagine these poor kids indoctrinated to reject good
> science all in name of religious faith and not realizing that they are
> rejecting God's Creation.
> No wonder US kids are doing so poorly in highschool when it comes to
> sciences.

While I agree that YEC is a factor in the lack of interest on the part of US
kids in science careers, I would be cautious about ascribing the entire
phenomenon to YEC. When I was in high school I noticed that some of the
evangelical leaders had poor grades, yet they were encouraged by their parents
and church to take on a demanding schedule of organizing and participating in
meetings. When I first became a Christian (at age 29) one of the practices that
bothered me about the admittedly rural church in which I became a Christian,
was that a young person got a lot more recognition from the church if he was
going into missionary work than if he was going off to get a Ph.D. in
engineering or the sciences. That perhaps explains to some extent the dearth of
Christian kids in science curricula, but what about the kids from nonchristian
homes? There is a dearth of _American_ -- not just evangelical -- kids in
science curricula. I just retired from GM R&D center, and over 23 years I
noticed an increasing trend for my colleagues to be Indian, Chinese, Thai, even
Arab. I feel that working with such an international group was a great benefit
to me, and I'm glad so many good scientists/engineers have come here, but it
troubles me that more Americans are not pursuing careers in the sciences.
>
> Keith Miller <kbmill@ksu.edu> wrote: To all:
>
> This is a very sobering account of the reality of teaching biology in
> some school districts. I happen to know the teacher being featured
> in this article. He is one of best biology teachers in state and
> nation.
>
> Keith
>
>
>
>

Bill Hamilton
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
248.652.4148 (home) 248.303.8651 (mobile)
"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31

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Received on Sun Apr 2 07:05:06 2006