Re: classroom ridicule

Louise,
I think you missed a vital point, the erroneous assumption that a
physical change in a parent is passed down to the offspring. It is even
stupider to assume that the change would affect only one sex. This is
insanely ultra-Lamarkian. But you don't need to put it this strongly to a
sadly misguided student.
Dave

On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 12:57:54 -0400 "Freeman, Louise Margaret"
<lfreeman@mbc.edu> writes:
> 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 15:08:35 2006