[SccHarpGirl]

Whether or not you agree with their viewpoints or not, the teacher is in a position of authority over you, and it is rude and uncalled for to start a debate in the middle of class. It's almost the equivelant of interrupting a sermon of a preacher who's theology you disagree with. It is required by the curriculum to teach evolution whether you personally like it or not. If you suspect that your teacher may pose belief threatening questions on a test, talk to him/her privately. If one takes you by surprise on a test, answer it according to your beliefs, but talk to the teacher afterward. Or you can just assume that the phrase "people who believe in evolution say..." appears before every statement. your choice. (Just as a note, I do not believe in theistic evolution. I am a fairly staunch creationist)

This is the unit that''s going to be coming up in my bio class. My teacher is not a christian, but she has a personal religion of sorts that states things such as "thou shalt not step on toes" so I doubt that she'd do something that would make my class (of lots of strong christians YAY) upset.

[scottiedawwwg]

Originally posted by SCCHarpGirl
Whether or not you agree with their viewpoints or not, the teacher is in a position of authority over you, and it is rude and uncalled for to start a debate in the middle of class. It's almost the equivelant of interrupting a sermon of a preacher who's theology you disagree with.

I disagree with this advice and here's why. The job of a teacher is not the same as giving a sermon or a lecture. In fact, I think it's bad methodology for a teacher to most of the time lecture and expect all the students to submit to what's being said. That's not teaching students to solve problems and think for themselves.

I suggest that if you are a student who disagrees with the teacher about something as personal as evolution vs. fundamental creationism, you have the right to raise this debate in class. If you were in my class, I would acknowledge your claim and make time for class discussion. Students have something to teach and learn from each other that I can allow to happen but not necessarily be a part of. And I have definitely learned from students who make claims I don't or didn't agree with.

Originally posted by Travis
How stupid. You don't think that kids should learn about things just because you don't agree with those things???

Your interpretation of Jared's post was sketchy at best and probably inaccurate. Have you completely written him off as someone who always posts useless garbage?

Scott

[Amber]

I don't believe in evolution (other than microevolution), but I still learn the material . Studying the topic does not mean that you believe in it, and refusing to pay attention to the issue won't make it disappear. Read the biology book, learn what the Evolutionists believe, and do research on both the Evolutionist and Creationist sides. It's no good trying to explain why you don't believe in evolution if you don't know its teachings and how to refute them. Also, I wouldn't try interrupting class to start a debate. If your teacher gives you the opportunity to bring up your beliefs, great, but remember that the teacher is in authority and deserves respect.

[scottiedawwwg]

Originally posted by Amber
Also, I wouldn't try interrupting class to start a debate. If your teacher gives you the opportunity to bring up your beliefs, great, but remember that the teacher is in authority and deserves respect.

Again, I disagree. What quality of a teacher demands respect if they are teaching a fallacy? (I'm not sayign that evolution is a fallacy, but bandjock4life believes it is.) IMO, a good teacher should be able to handle questions and claims made by students without feeling threatened. What if the teacher agrees with bandjock4life but is feeling forced to teach evolution as part of the curriculum?

Here is a personal situation to illustrate my point. When I was student teaching in Spanish, the topic of one chapter in our text book was volunteer work. My supervising teacher always required that her students do at least 2 hours of volunteer work and made this an assignment worth points. I was neutral about this requirement, so I went along with her policy. However, several students objected to this requirement, and many had valid reasons. Instead of ignoring their complaints, I devoted one class period to a debate about the topic. The objectives were for the students to practice new vocabulary in Spanish, but they also were evaluated on their argument. I think this was one of the most successful activities because the students had a stake in the assignment: they could express their opinions and know that they weren't falling on deaf ears. Although I still required them to do the volunteer work, I spoke with the more adamant objectors and told them why I agreed with them. From this debate I learned a lot about the students' lives and saw them more as people and less as names in my class. And not once did I feel threatened as a teacher.

bandjock4life, speak your mind in class! Even if I don't agree with you, I'd appreciate your comments if you were in my class.

Scott