Sunday, August 24, 2008

Dirty Damn Apes

So this is probably more up Thoreau's alley over at UO, but really? I'm not talking about the do-they or don't-they believe in evolution angle. Whatever to all that. I'm talking about the fact that these kids are 16 and 17 and appear to have no functional knowledge of heredity, say, and don't know chemistry, anatomy, etc. Is it my imagination, or does the Florida high-school biology curriculum belong in a 3rd- or 4th-grade science class?

Posted by IOZ at 11:39 AM | email »
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20 comments:

MandT said...

And, there's always the question of how Mickey and Mini begat Pluto, Donald Duck, Goofy, the Roadrunner, Elmer Fud, McScroge etc... Is missionary position evolutionary? My faith wants to know where Cain and Seth found their wifelets. Ummm, could it be incest?

12:00 PM
Crusader AXE of the Lost Causes said...

Mickey evolved because the Creator wanted more. Of course, his Creator was Walt. Maybe that's the tact they should take in Florida...show nude pictures of what we think Neanderthals looked like next to naked pictures of Brad and Britney...then they'll get it. Their God wanted something better looking to look at.

My father described Florida as a goddamn cesspool -- it's hoter than hell; there are no jobs that don't involve real estate, timeshares, t-shirts or rodents; the services available are equivalent to a high end third world country; the state bird is the mosquito; and the only reason to go there is to die.

And this is why. The pencil necked libruls in the Department of Education doan wanna be laughed at no more...

12:47 PM
Anonymous said...

My father described Florida as a goddamn cesspool -- it's hoter than hell; there are no jobs that don't involve real estate, timeshares, t-shirts or rodents; the services available are equivalent to a high end third world country; the state bird is the mosquito; and the only reason to go there is to die.

And recently there are alligators in the streets---a new low. Maybe Florida is evidence of why Mr. A says Zionism is a waning brand.

3:34 PM
First Little Pig said...

mandt -- They went to Nod, just East of Eden, where there were plenty of women... it's there in the Book....

Poor IOZ, blinded by his liberal, Northern, educated background so much that he fails to realize that a goodly portion of this country is ignorant and closed minded to such an extent that it resembles some level of Hell.

4:48 PM
Anonymous said...

"Maybe Florida is evidence of why Mr. A says Zionism is a waning brand."

Wait, Ditko wrote a screed about the jooz? Or am I missing something?

1:46 AM
Anonymous said...

A friend of mine is replacing a retiring teacher who taught 11th grade honors science. He was looking over some of the material left by the retiree. One quiz was labeling the parts of a leaf and drawing pictures of various flasks used in the lab.

1:47 PM
erin4iraq said...

"Mr. Campbell smiled. 'Mickey evolved,' he said. 'And Mickey gets cuter because Walt Disney makes more money that way. That is ‘selection.’'"

Talk about your Joe Camel sales pitch to the youth of America.
What's sad and pathetic is not the curriculum content here but that his students, including poor, put upon Bryce, didn't respond with the simple question - Hey, doesn't someone actually draw Mickey? And aren't you really saying that that someone changed Mickey's appearance to suit the times? Or is he really saying that Mickey and Minnie cartoon-fucked and had mini-Mickeys with modernized features?? Presumably, the wise and caring Mr. Campbell (he smiled!) knows this and understands that it's not his job to teach critical thinking skills.

4:13 PM
Brian4evolutionisasin said...

ah, erin4thegradncanyonwascaused bythegenesisflood

Knew you would love this story!

4:34 PM
erin4iraq said...

well it's nice to know you care brian4_________

but seriously, mickey evolved??! you have to be fucking kidding me

4:41 PM
The Promiscuous Reader said...

For once I agree with erin. Mickey is drawn, he doesn't evolve. By the teacher's own comment, it's artificial selection, not natural selection. It sounds like he read Stephen Jay Gould's articles on the changes in the character design, and didn't quite get what Gould was saying.

I sometimes wonder how many science teachers are really qualified to teach neo-Darwinianism. Is it okay if they don't really understand it, and misrepresent it, as long as they pledge allegiance to evolution and sneer at creationists? Or do truth and accuracy matter?

9:55 PM
Anonymous said...

Wait, why is Bryce "put upon"? Are you being sarcastic? The kid sounds like a fucking troglodyte. "durrr i ain't come from no apes smartypants". Fuck that kid.

11:04 AM
Brian4troglodytes said...

Given the social cricles in the typical high school, Bryce is doing most of the f^%$in' anonymous at 11:04. He is royalty, why should he listen to wimpy science teachers? (lol)

11:10 AM
Dylan Hirsch-Shell said...

Ioz, I believe this is the answer to your question:

"Bryce came to Ridgeview as a freshman from a Christian private school where he attended junior high."

And he probably came to his private Christian junior high from a private Christian elementary school.

Catch 'em early, and you have the best chance of keeping 'em for life....

I'm with Richard Dawkins on this one. Ramming the Born-again Evangelical Christian version of reality down a kid's throat and sabotaging any nascent critical thinking skills he may have is tantamount to child abuse.

4:51 PM
erin4iraq said...

You know, it's interesting, reading these posts from people who are supposedly all about critical thinking but want to eradicate any discussion of the possibility of intelligent design from school curriculum. (I'm talking about you, anon 11:04 and dylan...) I ask you, based on the article attached, who's force feeding who?

I looked up the "ten questions", and found ten answers that others have posted to respond. Interesting exchange. Some even honestly responded that evolutionary theory does not address issues of origins of life. So why not have evolutionary curriculum that at least embraces that truth and lets kids decide what they want to believe about the existential questions?

Besides, anyone who's had a teenager knows that forcefeeding them anything only leads to questioning and rejection. Respecting their questions and letting them know when you don't have the answers is a much better way to raise a human being.

5:16 PM
Anonymous said...

Gee, Erin that's a swell idea. But see, the problem is, creationism (get the fuck outta here with that "intelligent design" bullshit) is not science, so there's no reason to teach it in science class, dig?

Maybe there could be a separate class in, oh, I don't know, "mythology", or "comparative religion", where they could hear all about the Flood and Eden and talking snakes and bipolar deities, as well as all the other creation myths from around the world, since you sure wouldn't want to find out after you die that you were supposed to be offering your prayers to Balor, Quetzalcoatl, Nhialic, Frigg or Isis instead of Jehovah, now would you?

What's that? Oh, you only want your particular myth to be taught to the little dears? Yeah, thought so. Once again, I stand in awe of your intellectual honesty and integrity. You must be one helluva lawyer.

7:46 PM
Anonymous said...

No, see, if we don't use science class to throw in a plug for Genesis, where are the kids possibly going to ever hear about it? At home? Church? From the innumerable references to it all throughout the culture?

Erin, if you and your fellow god-botherers can't get citizens to go to church where they can hear about the Christian creation myth all fucking week long if they want, that's not our problem. It still ain't got a damn thing to do with science.

9:22 AM
The Promiscuous Reader said...

erin, do you also think that astronomy classes should admit the possibility that the sun goes around the earth? Should medical schools cover faith healing? Just wondering.

As I indicated before, I'm not sure I trust science teachers to each neo-Darwinian theory (the New Synthesis TM) correctly, even when they accept it and reject creationism or Intelligent Design. So many of the advocates of Darwin I see online are not really Darwinists, but Spencerists.
I'm in favor of teaching the conflicts, but in order to do that, a teacher has to understand the different positions well, and I'm not sure there are enough teachers qualified to do this.

I also wonder, though, where you other guys think "critical thinking" should be taught. Not in biology or other science classes, apparently. Probably not in humanities either, because critical thinking is just Political Correctness in disguise.

10:04 PM
erin4iraq said...

Anon's - your comments bring to mind this immortal quote from South Park:

"What did our great leader teach us? Logic and reasoning are not enough; you also have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't agree with you."

9:24 AM
Anonymous said...

I'll take that lack of a substantial response as an admission of defeat. Thanks Erin! Look forward to arguing with you again sometime!

11:50 AM
erin4iraq said...

Okey doke. You [collective anon(s)] want a substantive response. Here goes. I will grant you that intelligent design theory is not science per se, but scientifically-provable theories are not all there is to life. The scientific method does not provide an answer to the question of why we are here or why the scientific method even works. Thus, it is only fair that a well-rounded education should acknowledge that (whether in science class or otherwise) - and that science cannot answer this and many other valid questions. I have no problem with teachers in state schools communicating that numerous answers have been proposed to the question of our existence and how the world came to be. So, I ask again, whose point of view is being force fed to whom? If I'm not afraid of allowing schools to engage kids on that level, why are you?

5:56 PM

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