(no subject)
Let me preface this rant with a quick aside: My Mom was an admissions counselor at UCI, and had to make these exact decisions about which classes counted, and which ones didn't. Ultimately, this decided who got into a prestigious university, and who had to slog through community colleges taking remedial courses. Hi, Mom!
Judge says UC can deny religious course credit
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
(08-12) 17:25 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution.
Rejecting claims of religious discrimination and stifling of free expression, U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles said UC's review committees cited legitimate reasons for rejecting the texts - not because they contained religious viewpoints, but because they omitted important topics in science and history and failed to teach critical thinking.
Whoooo! Common sense rules! Of course, the schools are putting up the usual argument that waah! they're making us be secular!
"This case is about the future of private religious education and the right to be able to have your kids learn from a religious perspective," said Tyler, who is general counsel for a religious liberty law firm in Murrieta named Advocates for Faith and Freedom.
*sigh* No one is making anyone do anything. You can still take Christianity in America. You can take Auto Shop For the Soul. According to the article, UC has actually approved classes that teach intelligent design. But if your students want to go to University of California schools, that class needs to also teach certain concepts in science and history. "God did it", or "it was divinely ordained" doesn't count.
The plaintiffs also are complaining about religious discrimination. But if anything, the judge was being more fair by ruling that all students have to be evaluated on the same criteria regardless of their religion. Can't get more fair than that.
Guh.
Still, there are a few things about this that I wonder if anyone found out.
1. This article says that if students don't have the required college prep courses, the UC system will waive the requirement if they rock an SAT subject test. I wonder if any of the students took the test to get around the science requirements, or if they just went straight to lawsuit?
2. Why even apply at the University of California? Consider what would happen if the situation was reversed: I've decided that I didn’t believe in intelligent design, I've petitioned my religious school to not make me take any classes that taught it. Why on earth, then, would I choose to continue my education at a seminary school where I'm expected to know ID to get in *and* to graduate?
3. Yeah, graduation. What were these students planning to major in? A lot of hardk0re science and technical grads come out of the UC system, so it's a good guess that they require some kind of college-level science before you can claim that diploma. Did no one read the course catalogs? Or take a look at the classes they’d have to work through in order to get their BA?
[Ok, I checked in the course catalog. Even at super-liberal Berkley, even majoring in Art, students are still required to take American history, college-level math, biology, more history, and physical science.]
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You'll notice I'm not snarky here, because either way, the kids are the ones getting shafted.
If the judge had ruled that UC had to make an exception, they would have been tossed into a system that they're not prepared for. By teaching "God did it" instead of the more complicated concepts that they'll run into at UC, the high schools have basically set up these would-be students to fail hard, especially in their general ed. requirements. Some of them may persevere, but I think a lot of them will end up failing out.
But since the judge said "no exceptions", they have to settle for a crappy school instead of an elite university, or waste time retaking high school classes because their school cared more about teaching religion than preparing their students for lifelong learning. And that just sucks.
Judge says UC can deny religious course credit
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
(08-12) 17:25 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution.
Rejecting claims of religious discrimination and stifling of free expression, U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles said UC's review committees cited legitimate reasons for rejecting the texts - not because they contained religious viewpoints, but because they omitted important topics in science and history and failed to teach critical thinking.
Whoooo! Common sense rules! Of course, the schools are putting up the usual argument that waah! they're making us be secular!
"This case is about the future of private religious education and the right to be able to have your kids learn from a religious perspective," said Tyler, who is general counsel for a religious liberty law firm in Murrieta named Advocates for Faith and Freedom.
*sigh* No one is making anyone do anything. You can still take Christianity in America. You can take Auto Shop For the Soul. According to the article, UC has actually approved classes that teach intelligent design. But if your students want to go to University of California schools, that class needs to also teach certain concepts in science and history. "God did it", or "it was divinely ordained" doesn't count.
The plaintiffs also are complaining about religious discrimination. But if anything, the judge was being more fair by ruling that all students have to be evaluated on the same criteria regardless of their religion. Can't get more fair than that.
Guh.
Still, there are a few things about this that I wonder if anyone found out.
1. This article says that if students don't have the required college prep courses, the UC system will waive the requirement if they rock an SAT subject test. I wonder if any of the students took the test to get around the science requirements, or if they just went straight to lawsuit?
2. Why even apply at the University of California? Consider what would happen if the situation was reversed: I've decided that I didn’t believe in intelligent design, I've petitioned my religious school to not make me take any classes that taught it. Why on earth, then, would I choose to continue my education at a seminary school where I'm expected to know ID to get in *and* to graduate?
3. Yeah, graduation. What were these students planning to major in? A lot of hardk0re science and technical grads come out of the UC system, so it's a good guess that they require some kind of college-level science before you can claim that diploma. Did no one read the course catalogs? Or take a look at the classes they’d have to work through in order to get their BA?
[Ok, I checked in the course catalog. Even at super-liberal Berkley, even majoring in Art, students are still required to take American history, college-level math, biology, more history, and physical science.]
-------------------------
You'll notice I'm not snarky here, because either way, the kids are the ones getting shafted.
If the judge had ruled that UC had to make an exception, they would have been tossed into a system that they're not prepared for. By teaching "God did it" instead of the more complicated concepts that they'll run into at UC, the high schools have basically set up these would-be students to fail hard, especially in their general ed. requirements. Some of them may persevere, but I think a lot of them will end up failing out.
But since the judge said "no exceptions", they have to settle for a crappy school instead of an elite university, or waste time retaking high school classes because their school cared more about teaching religion than preparing their students for lifelong learning. And that just sucks.