classroom ridicule

In light of our recent discussions, I want to share an story from earlier
this semester.

I had a incident in my psych 101 class; the topic was sexual
differentiation, so I introduced it by having the students list the major
differences between men and women. After a few obvious ones were named, a
student raised her hand and told me men had fewer ribs. I said, in what I
hoped was a pleasant and non-derogatory manner, no, that that was not true,
men and women have the same number of ribs and we can show this empirically
by counting them. This actually fit in quite nicely with my earlier lecture
on what science is and the importance of empirical data; I had used the
example of frequently cited misconception that more people commit suicide
around Christmas than any other time of the year. It's not true, suicides
actually peak in mid-summer; we can show this by going to the death records
and counting them.
 
Obviously, the student held this belief about ribs because of a literal
Genesis reading. She didn't actually bring up the Bible (and neither did I)
, but everyone knew it; where else would such a belief have come from? It
certainly never occurred to me to add "Only an idiotic Christian would
believe such a thing!" and I can't imagine that of any other teacher I know,
regardless of faith.
 
But, I do wonder, did this student perceive my correction, as mild as it
was, as "ridiculing" her religious beliefs? Were in in a public high school
instead of a college, would the principal have gotten an irate call from a
parent? Is she even now telling her friends that my classroom is hostile to
the Christian faith? (Oblivious to the fact that I'm a Southern Baptist
Sunday School teacher!) Why is it I can imagine that scenario so much more
easily?
__
Louise M. Freeman, PhD
Psychology Dept
Mary Baldwin College
Staunton, VA 24401
540-887-7326
FAX 540-887-7121
Received on Wed Apr 5 12:58:47 2006