Educational Fervor is an Educational Failure: Evolution vs. Imminent Design
Recently there has been continuous debate on the issue of what the state of Kansas calls "imminent design." At first, I thought, fine, they want to teach some religious version of human creation. We called it "creationism vs. evolution" in my day. Because of the change in terms, I may even still be confused on the point of the debate. I really don't care. I find it a pointless complaint. Actually, it would make sense to teach that entropy works toward chaos in all instances, however if the universe and most chemical process function in a fashion of order, then there must be some order and thus some force causing that order (other than attraction).
OK, lets put the debate aside, which is my point anyway. Say what you will and from whatever religion you decide to come from (or your society tells you to come from), this is the decision of the local school.
Did I just say that?
It's the local school's decision?
Damned right! As the Supreme Court of the United States of America once ruled on the decision of pornography, so it should be on the issue of subject and local approval of religion. Personally, I don't think religion has much place in school other than basic morality and, of course, social contract (i.e. The Golden Rule). But I'm not the person (or the government) who should decide what a community should teach it's children. Honestly, if I were, I would change a lot of things, because it's dysfunctional and skewed. However, every country and educational system skews their histories, sciences, and other subjects.
[Law Note: Before they decided that it was the local communities domain to control pornography law, the Supreme Court Judges had to spend every Thursday reviewing what different plaintiffs believed was pornographic. Talk about job perks! :-P]
[Educational Note: Russians are quite often taught that they won WWII and America was just grandstanding. As Americans, we sometimes get a skewed viewpoint that tells us the opposite. While this has some basis and nationalistic reasons, it took ALL of the allies to win the war. --Clearly this is good for a later discussion, but not now.]
This 'imminent design' subject however has something very important to learn from it. Here, as Americans, we (you, because I'm not there) are debating which is best to teach. Fine.
When I was in 6th and again in 7th grade, I was introduced to a couple of days of human evolution (which my parents, still being quite religious, had already explained to me). Then again I had to learn it in 8th grade biology and then again in following years. Again, we discussed it in college biology and then again in the university. Oh, did I mention that all of this took place in Texas and New Mexico?
That's right. We were taught in some of those classes that some people believe it and some people don't. One of those areas doesn't even allow the sale of alcohol inside the city!
While all of this is fascinating, it still undermines the point. Should it be taught? Wrong...that's not the point. The point should be that it's ONLY 2 OR 3 DAYS! Screw evolution and creationism!
What about me forgetting the word 'RUST' and asking some American if the metal thing that they are looking at is oxidized?
I once asked a university educated gentlemen if he had anything to offer me that didn't have any CO3 in it. His reply? "Nothing in my house has CO3, I want to protect our environment."
Yeah...end quote. My reply, being flabbergasted and disappointed was simply, "Great, can I have a water then, because I don't want a Coke."
However, when I can't remember the word for rust in Russian...no problem. Yesterday, I couldn't remember the word (that's common for me these days) and my girlfriend hadn't learned the word 'rust' in English. [I should point out that Sveta's English is wonderful, so I rarely speak Russian anyway and get little practice. I'm spoiled.]
So how did I fix the problem, because I was holding up the other end of an ancient refrigerator?
Simple! I just said "iron oxide." [Yes, in both Russian and English, my chemistry is usually good, but she knows it in English too.] And to that, her reply was, "yes, there is some."
WOW! She knows chemistry! Actually, I know that she knows. It's a serious subject in Russia. All Russians study chemistry and physics...and actually they learn it thoroughly before 10th grade (class). I know 13-year-olds who know it and want to learn the English. In Sveta's case, she's an accountant. She doesn't use chemistry on a day to day basis. Actually, she only gets practice now because I like looking at ingredients on foreign made food products. [Most Russian foods don't add much in the way of major chemical compounds--mostly just common natural ones.] Of course, we don't get a lot of American food here and I had to explain that the bright yellow sauce on some McDonald's hamburgers is, in fact, 'mustard' and it looks and tastes different because of preservatives and Yellow #5. I don't know the Yellow #5 chemical compound by the way, but she got the point.
So, if these freaks, complainers, and religious or anti-religious morons want to argue about something then they should argue about why they didn't learn basic chemistry and biology. Not why your children might be taught some crackpot biological history which won't be used in everyday life. I don't have to understand creationism to understand that I'm an intelligent water-sac. I'm an animal, a mammal, and may even have the life form characteristics of a virus. Great! Now tell me something that I can't figure out!
Better yet, LEARN SOMETHING YOURSELF!
[OK, probably not a necessary comment to most of my readers who aren't brainless card-carrying monkeys anyway...because they came to read what I had to say, are somewhat interested, and understand what I'm saying.]
Worse yet, if I learned all of these things before 8th grade, then what has happened to the system? Well, it's the same system. The problem isn't that your school is bad and mine was better. I went to rural Texas and New Mexico public schools. I just remembered and learned while I was there. (Didn't study so much, just learned and listened.)
Actually, I'm asked this question often by people outside of America: Why are you so much smarter than most Americans?
[Recently, of course, it has renewed a genius complex that had long since been dormant. :-P Actually, not smarter--much.]
I just answer that the American education system still teaches the subjects, it's just that often the students don't learn (or don't care to learn). While we don't learn as much science and math (or at least we aren't required to pass a difficult *standardized* science exam), they don't learn so much psychology. Socially, they learn the same way that Americans do...just no emphasis on the psychology in schools or universities. [So I get to talk about Freud, but rarely about Jung, Ericsson, or Maslow. But they do know Pavlov, as a doctor--I learned some Russian chemistry in the university named after him.]
But while psychology helps in social and business situations, we as Americans are often lacking the effective science and math skills that helped us to become inventors and an economic powerhouse in the technology sector several decades ago.
Rather than focusing on this stupid debate of religion in school...why don't we focus on something that will effect our practical knowledge failures!
and please, THINK FOR YOURSELVES!
Sky
OK, lets put the debate aside, which is my point anyway. Say what you will and from whatever religion you decide to come from (or your society tells you to come from), this is the decision of the local school.
Did I just say that?
It's the local school's decision?
Damned right! As the Supreme Court of the United States of America once ruled on the decision of pornography, so it should be on the issue of subject and local approval of religion. Personally, I don't think religion has much place in school other than basic morality and, of course, social contract (i.e. The Golden Rule). But I'm not the person (or the government) who should decide what a community should teach it's children. Honestly, if I were, I would change a lot of things, because it's dysfunctional and skewed. However, every country and educational system skews their histories, sciences, and other subjects.
[Law Note: Before they decided that it was the local communities domain to control pornography law, the Supreme Court Judges had to spend every Thursday reviewing what different plaintiffs believed was pornographic. Talk about job perks! :-P]
[Educational Note: Russians are quite often taught that they won WWII and America was just grandstanding. As Americans, we sometimes get a skewed viewpoint that tells us the opposite. While this has some basis and nationalistic reasons, it took ALL of the allies to win the war. --Clearly this is good for a later discussion, but not now.]
This 'imminent design' subject however has something very important to learn from it. Here, as Americans, we (you, because I'm not there) are debating which is best to teach. Fine.
When I was in 6th and again in 7th grade, I was introduced to a couple of days of human evolution (which my parents, still being quite religious, had already explained to me). Then again I had to learn it in 8th grade biology and then again in following years. Again, we discussed it in college biology and then again in the university. Oh, did I mention that all of this took place in Texas and New Mexico?
That's right. We were taught in some of those classes that some people believe it and some people don't. One of those areas doesn't even allow the sale of alcohol inside the city!
While all of this is fascinating, it still undermines the point. Should it be taught? Wrong...that's not the point. The point should be that it's ONLY 2 OR 3 DAYS! Screw evolution and creationism!
What about me forgetting the word 'RUST' and asking some American if the metal thing that they are looking at is oxidized?
I once asked a university educated gentlemen if he had anything to offer me that didn't have any CO3 in it. His reply? "Nothing in my house has CO3, I want to protect our environment."
Yeah...end quote. My reply, being flabbergasted and disappointed was simply, "Great, can I have a water then, because I don't want a Coke."
However, when I can't remember the word for rust in Russian...no problem. Yesterday, I couldn't remember the word (that's common for me these days) and my girlfriend hadn't learned the word 'rust' in English. [I should point out that Sveta's English is wonderful, so I rarely speak Russian anyway and get little practice. I'm spoiled.]
So how did I fix the problem, because I was holding up the other end of an ancient refrigerator?
Simple! I just said "iron oxide." [Yes, in both Russian and English, my chemistry is usually good, but she knows it in English too.] And to that, her reply was, "yes, there is some."
WOW! She knows chemistry! Actually, I know that she knows. It's a serious subject in Russia. All Russians study chemistry and physics...and actually they learn it thoroughly before 10th grade (class). I know 13-year-olds who know it and want to learn the English. In Sveta's case, she's an accountant. She doesn't use chemistry on a day to day basis. Actually, she only gets practice now because I like looking at ingredients on foreign made food products. [Most Russian foods don't add much in the way of major chemical compounds--mostly just common natural ones.] Of course, we don't get a lot of American food here and I had to explain that the bright yellow sauce on some McDonald's hamburgers is, in fact, 'mustard' and it looks and tastes different because of preservatives and Yellow #5. I don't know the Yellow #5 chemical compound by the way, but she got the point.
So, if these freaks, complainers, and religious or anti-religious morons want to argue about something then they should argue about why they didn't learn basic chemistry and biology. Not why your children might be taught some crackpot biological history which won't be used in everyday life. I don't have to understand creationism to understand that I'm an intelligent water-sac. I'm an animal, a mammal, and may even have the life form characteristics of a virus. Great! Now tell me something that I can't figure out!
Better yet, LEARN SOMETHING YOURSELF!
[OK, probably not a necessary comment to most of my readers who aren't brainless card-carrying monkeys anyway...because they came to read what I had to say, are somewhat interested, and understand what I'm saying.]
Worse yet, if I learned all of these things before 8th grade, then what has happened to the system? Well, it's the same system. The problem isn't that your school is bad and mine was better. I went to rural Texas and New Mexico public schools. I just remembered and learned while I was there. (Didn't study so much, just learned and listened.)
Actually, I'm asked this question often by people outside of America: Why are you so much smarter than most Americans?
[Recently, of course, it has renewed a genius complex that had long since been dormant. :-P Actually, not smarter--much.]
I just answer that the American education system still teaches the subjects, it's just that often the students don't learn (or don't care to learn). While we don't learn as much science and math (or at least we aren't required to pass a difficult *standardized* science exam), they don't learn so much psychology. Socially, they learn the same way that Americans do...just no emphasis on the psychology in schools or universities. [So I get to talk about Freud, but rarely about Jung, Ericsson, or Maslow. But they do know Pavlov, as a doctor--I learned some Russian chemistry in the university named after him.]
But while psychology helps in social and business situations, we as Americans are often lacking the effective science and math skills that helped us to become inventors and an economic powerhouse in the technology sector several decades ago.
Rather than focusing on this stupid debate of religion in school...why don't we focus on something that will effect our practical knowledge failures!
and please, THINK FOR YOURSELVES!
Sky