A Christian republic (POLL)

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

Well....there are things science class mentions that have not been observed.

The only way for this statement to pass muster is to discard any understanding of the scientific method to begin with.

 

I've sat in my share of science classes, too, and I cannot understand why someone with a background in this area would ascribe so much validity to science skepticism that is not at all rooted in the scientific method -- and of one of the most foundational pieces of the puzzle we have today, no less.

 

Sitting in a science class does not mean one understands science, or the scientific method.

 

I understand the scientific method very clearly.

 

However, I am not talking about the process of actually creating a hypothesis, creating an experiment to observe the hypothesis, recreating the experiment and then adjusting the hypothesis to what was observed.

[Landlord]

Asked a question, as a science teacher, in the context of teaching science during a science class, the answer should be contained within the realm of science, even if it's simply, "science doesn't know." That's it.

[BigRedBuster]

 

No, it's a very honest question.

 

The teacher isn't formally devoting time to teaching creationism. He isn't telling the students that God is the answer or Allah is the answer. He isn't beating it into their little brains that the MUST believe this. He simply answered a question from a student that some people believe a higher power was involved at that point.

 

Heck, maybe the teacher is native American and believe in the spirits of nature that his ancestors believe. Nothing in my quoted statement would indicate that.

The answer is still no, regardless of that teacher's religion of choice. That teacher should be reprimanded for proselytizing.

 

So....just mentioning what SOME people believe in the world (my second quote in the above post) is strictly forbidden in a public school.

 

That's sad when a teacher can not even mention the reality outside the school walls even when asked about it by a student without fear of punishment.

[Landlord]

So....just mentioning what SOME people believe in the world (my second quote in the above post) is strictly forbidden in a public school.

 

That's sad when a teacher can not even mention the reality outside the school walls even when asked about it by a student without fear of punishment.

 

 

Your scenario involves a student asking a scientific question and a teacher responding with a non-scientific answer, while teaching science. Maybe it isn't punishment for proselytizing, or whatever, but it's bad teaching. Regardless, we all know this does actually happen all over the place all the time and 99% of the time nobody really cares, so what is the issue, other than crafting a make-believe scenario to bemoan the imagined censorship of teachers with faith?

[knapplc]

 

 

No, it's a very honest question.

 

The teacher isn't formally devoting time to teaching creationism. He isn't telling the students that God is the answer or Allah is the answer. He isn't beating it into their little brains that the MUST believe this. He simply answered a question from a student that some people believe a higher power was involved at that point.

 

Heck, maybe the teacher is native American and believe in the spirits of nature that his ancestors believe. Nothing in my quoted statement would indicate that.

The answer is still no, regardless of that teacher's religion of choice. That teacher should be reprimanded for proselytizing.

 

So....just mentioning what SOME people believe in the world (my second quote in the above post) is strictly forbidden in a public school.

 

That's sad when a teacher can not even mention the reality outside the school walls even when asked about it by a student without fear of punishment.

 

It's not sad, it's safe - for the teacher, the student, the education system and the country.

 

Again, you do not want a Muslim teacher, a Pastafarian, or any other flavor of religion or atheism putting their religion in your child's head, right? Or are you OK with your child coming home from science class no longer being Christian, as you raised them, but now espousing Islam?

 

You're saying it's sad that a teacher can't do that to a child? Do you think that's what a science teacher should be doing? Or an English teacher? Or Social Studies?

[BigRedBuster]

 

So....just mentioning what SOME people believe in the world (my second quote in the above post) is strictly forbidden in a public school.

 

That's sad when a teacher can not even mention the reality outside the school walls even when asked about it by a student without fear of punishment.

 

 

Your scenario involves a student asking a scientific question and a teacher responding with a non-scientific answer, while teaching science. Maybe it isn't punishment for proselytizing, or whatever, but it's bad teaching. Regardless, we all know this does actually happen all over the place all the time and 99% of the time nobody really cares, so what is the issue, other than crafting a make-believe scenario to bemoan the imagined censorship of teachers with faith?

 

So, should he also not have said "The theory is that nothing existed before that"?

[Landlord]

 

 

So....just mentioning what SOME people believe in the world (my second quote in the above post) is strictly forbidden in a public school.

 

That's sad when a teacher can not even mention the reality outside the school walls even when asked about it by a student without fear of punishment.

 

 

Your scenario involves a student asking a scientific question and a teacher responding with a non-scientific answer, while teaching science. Maybe it isn't punishment for proselytizing, or whatever, but it's bad teaching. Regardless, we all know this does actually happen all over the place all the time and 99% of the time nobody really cares, so what is the issue, other than crafting a make-believe scenario to bemoan the imagined censorship of teachers with faith?

 

So, should he also not have said "The theory is that nothing existed before that"?

 

 

 

No, since there is no 'the' theory that claims that.

[zoogs]

That's sad when a teacher can not even mention the reality outside the school walls even when asked about it by a student without fear of punishment.

This is a puzzling response to the fairly uncontroversial assertion that science class should stick to science. I fear this example is spinning off in absurd directions.

 

I understand the scientific method very clearly.

First, I'm glad you have such a scientific curiosity and especially that you explored that in university.

 

However, your opinions on and understanding of the Big Bang Theory, as well as the teaching of it, appear to be quite contrary to this background.

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

 

No, it's a very honest question.

 

The teacher isn't formally devoting time to teaching creationism. He isn't telling the students that God is the answer or Allah is the answer. He isn't beating it into their little brains that the MUST believe this. He simply answered a question from a student that some people believe a higher power was involved at that point.

 

Heck, maybe the teacher is native American and believe in the spirits of nature that his ancestors believe. Nothing in my quoted statement would indicate that.

The answer is still no, regardless of that teacher's religion of choice. That teacher should be reprimanded for proselytizing.

 

So....just mentioning what SOME people believe in the world (my second quote in the above post) is strictly forbidden in a public school.

 

That's sad when a teacher can not even mention the reality outside the school walls even when asked about it by a student without fear of punishment.

 

It's not sad, it's safe - for the teacher, the student, the education system and the country.

 

Again, you do not want a Muslim teacher, a Pastafarian, or any other flavor of religion or atheism putting their religion in your child's head, right? Or are you OK with your child coming home from science class no longer being Christian, as you raised them, but now espousing Islam?

 

You're saying it's sad that a teacher can't do that to a child? Do you think that's what a science teacher should be doing? Or an English teacher? Or Social Studies?

 

I stated in post #60 that I don't want creationism taught in public schools and my reasoning is in that post.

 

I would have a problem with a teacher devoting class time specifically to teaching his or her religion to the children unless it was a specific class for that and I, as a parent, had the ability to opt out of the class.

 

However, I would have absolutely no problem if my daughter had a Muslim instructor and a question was asked in class and during the discussion his personal religious beliefs were mentioned. I don't fear other religions and believe it's part of our culture and actually part of being a responsible citizen to understand various religions that are around you.

 

As a student, I would actually find it very interesting. As a parent, I would welcome my children being around people from other religions.

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

 

So....just mentioning what SOME people believe in the world (my second quote in the above post) is strictly forbidden in a public school.

 

That's sad when a teacher can not even mention the reality outside the school walls even when asked about it by a student without fear of punishment.

 

 

Your scenario involves a student asking a scientific question and a teacher responding with a non-scientific answer, while teaching science. Maybe it isn't punishment for proselytizing, or whatever, but it's bad teaching. Regardless, we all know this does actually happen all over the place all the time and 99% of the time nobody really cares, so what is the issue, other than crafting a make-believe scenario to bemoan the imagined censorship of teachers with faith?

 

So, should he also not have said "The theory is that nothing existed before that"?

 

 

 

No, since there is no 'the' theory that claims that.

 

Post #99

[Landlord]

Stephen Hawking and Brian Greene personally hold to the idea that there was nothing either pre-dating or existing outside of (I'm not sure which of these is true for these men) the existence and expansion of our universe.

 

≠

 

THE unnamed scientific theory states that nothing existed sequentially before the big bang

[knapplc]

I am often guilty of failing to make coherent cases for my viewpoint on these forums. Sometimes I fail to grasp someone else's argument as well.

 

I think this is one of those times. I'm not sure what we've spent the last 50-ish posts debating.

[knapplc]

Man, we are REALLY parsing words in this thread.

[NM11046]

So here's my question ... which came first chicken or egg?

[Enhance]

So here's my question ... which came first chicken or egg?

Yes.