Re: Challenges to teaching biology

Well, you'll find lots of stuff generally on the question of religious
tolerance in public school science education, not all of it reliable.
I don't have time to research it, but I'm certain you'll find plenty
of stories if you do. Of course, it's often unclear who's the "good
guy." A student's perception often varies from the teacher's, and the
telling of the story gets clouded by the politics.

There are some good resources regarding these things on the Christian
Legal Society's website
(http://www.clsnet.org/clrfPages/pubs/pubs_overview.phpx). One of the
most thorough documents found there, "Religion in Schools: A Joint
Statement of Current Law," endorsed by a wide variety of groups
including the ACLU, states that "Just as they may either advance nor
inhibit any religious doctrine, teachers should not ridicule, for
example, a student's religious explanation for life on earth." This
suggests to me that such ridicule has been a problem often enough to
warrant mention in such a document.

As to litigated cases, as church and state law relates to science,
unfortunately the litigated cases focus on "creation-science" and now
ID. To the extent there are legitimate concerns about how some
science teachers present the material -- and I do believe there are --
these tend to get lost in the fireworks of the big debate. "Creation
science" education proposals may be dumb and clearly unconstitutional,
but that doesn't mean there's no legitimacy at all to the concern
about whether educators, including science educators, are sensitive to
or negative towards the religious faith of their students.

There are other "hot" areas of legal dispute in which anti-religious
bias or fear are more readily evident. These include funding and
space for student religious groups, student-led prayer ("Meet Me at
the Pole" meetings), religious references in student assignments, and
religious references in school products (such as concerts and plays).
In some of these cases, religious advocates have had some success in
the courts. I believe the way the debate gets framed and resolved
affects public perceptions of who is wearing the white hat.

On 4/3/06, Freeman, Louise Margaret <lfreeman@mbc.edu> wrote:
>
>
> I mean some sort of public record, filed lawsuit or media report. Given how quickly people on all sides of the politcal fence are to file suits (legal basis or not) , and the sensation such a case would make in the media, I find it hard to belief there would not be some record of either a parental complaint or a teacher defending him/herself. Any records from school board minutes, or from a teacher's union or PTA meeting? Something more than hearsay.
>
> I'm not naive enough to believe policies are always followed. Just to take another example, I witnessed dozens of children receiving corporal punishment in front of the entire class during my elementary school years, which was in blatant violation of policy. Many teachers undoubtedly got away with it dozens of times. But if this sort of thing happens routinely all over the country, eventually someone complains, either to the school boards, the courts or the media. All it takes is a little web-surfing to dig up news reports.
>
> Religion is an equally emotional topic for parents. So where are all the formal complaints?
>
> __
> Louise M. Freeman, PhD
> Psychology Dept
> Mary Baldwin College
> Staunton, VA 24401
> 540-887-7326
> FAX 540-887-7121
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "David Opderbeck" <dopderbeck@gmail.com>
> To: "Freeman, Louise Margaret" <lfreeman@mbc.edu>
> Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 13:54:16 -0400
>
> Subject: Re: Challenges to teaching biology
>
>
> What do you mean by "document?" It happens regularly in the school where my brother teaches -- is that "documented?" I'm not sure what kind of complaint would get "filed." There's not much basis for a legal claim, so you won't likely find any filed lawsuits. Otherwise, complaints would be handled by the administration of a local school, which likely would not result in any sort of public record, even if some action is taken.
>
>
> On 4/3/06, Freeman, Louise Margaret < lfreeman@mbc.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Can any document an actual case of a public school teacher using a science classroom to ridicule anyone's religion? Any known cases of parents filing a complaint for that reason or a teacher being reprimanded for it?
> > __
> > Louise M. Freeman, PhD
> > Psychology Dept
> > Mary Baldwin College
> > Staunton, VA 24401
> > 540-887-7326
> > FAX 540-887-7121
> >
> >
> >
> > I personally do not know of a single K-12 science teacher who teaches science as a naturalistic philosophy. Most are Christians themselves.
> >
> >
> > A teacher who is an atheist or agnostic, however, can say "your silly ideas about the Bible and God are falsified by science" without violating the Constitution, or at least without drawing an establishment clause lawsuit from a well-funded civil liberties organization. It's easy to deride those fundamentalist kids and their parents for their apparently belligerent YEC-ism.
> >
> >
>
>
>
Received on Mon Apr 3 15:12:57 2006