It’s a quiet but hot war. Occasionally, it will flare to the level of national attention in places like Kansas and Dover, but most of the battles are small firefights at the local level. Most of the attacks are subtle and many times personal. Despite the cries of some that it is a lesser issue in the grand scheme, creation and evolution battles occur in the country constantly. Most times, it is a local school board roiled in handwringing. But frequently, it’s a single voice trying to do what is right against almost incomprehensible pressure from friends, colleagues and community.
Recently, the single voice that stood up was Lumpkin County Middle School science teacher Pat New.
On April 25, 2005, during a meeting about parent complaints with her principal,
Rick Conner, she recalled: “He took a Bible off the bookshelf behind him and
said, ‘Patty I believe in everything in this book, do you?’ I told him, ‘I
really feel uncomfortable about your asking that question.’ He wouldn’t let it
go.’ ” The next day, she said, in the lunchroom, “he reached across the table,
took my hand and said: ‘I accept evolution in most things but if they ever say
God wasn’t involved I couldn’t accept that. I want you to say that, Pat.’ “
Fortunately for Ms. New, the state of Georgia educational standards explicitly require the teaching of evolution as the unifying concept for biology. Instead of having to enter the mud wrestling minutiae of the creation / evolution debate, she was able to say I must teach the standards. She did have to file a grievance but once she did the local school officials had nowhere to turn.
She almost didn’t have that opportunity. Two years ago, State School Superintendant Kathy Cox made a move to eliminate evolution as a standard. If she had been successful, not only would Ms. Pew have suffered the fate of a pariah in her community but her students would have suffered an inadequate education.
No issue in the past 20 years has crystalized the importance of local attention like the debate over the teaching of evolution. While national attention is focused on abortion, the war and flag burning, evolution opponents coordinate grass roots movements to take over local and state school boards, paste stickers in biology books and pressure individual teachers.
Educators and scientists continually fight the quiet war to preserve and improve the education of our future generations. Isn’t that worth a little of our attention?
h/t on the article to Blog For Democracy
cross posted at Drifting Through The Grift
A big “thank you” to Ms. New for not giving in to Christian fundamentalism. I, too, happen to be a person of faith. However, I accept that most of the world’s major religions teach a lot of the same basic, good principles. To me, these tennants provide a good base for developing personal beliefs and attitudes.
However fundamentalists, like Conner, of any faith use select beliefs to justfy imposing their unyielding fundamentalism on others. This was something that was accepted for a long time. But thanks to good people like Ms. New, maybe we won’t regress back into the dark ages on this question.
That’s an astounding and horrible story (I am a teacher in North Carolina). The schools are filled with these nuts.
Also, there shouldnt be an informal religious litmus test for keeping a job.
Steve,
And all this time, I thought you lived in Georgia!
Can’t blame you for being a teacher in North Carolina; I’ve heard the schools there are much better. Is that true, from your experience?
right .these creationists distort valid science of honest, competent scientists with their lies.
Also ,creationism bases itself on frankly, lies- the distortions of honest , competent scientists.
So what you’re saying is they are lies?
lolz!!1!
Amber I live in GA, but cross the state line for my job in GA. Remember i waaay up here in the hills
should have read:
Remember i am waaay up here in the hills
Following are facts extreme evolutionists don’t want the public to know.
1. I am a recently retired public middle school mathematics teacher in West Virginia with over 30 years experience as an educator including administration.
For the last five years of my full-time career, with the full knowledge of State, County, and ACLU officials, I demonstrated to my students that mathematics proves beyond the shadow of doubt that evolutionism is nonsense. The students saw that the evidence clearly shows that every item associated with humans, animals and plants are Intelligent Designs and Intelligent Design is science because it is observable by billions of people trillions of times, always has been, always will be. I always let them figure it out for themselves and allowed them to believe what they chose, but at least they were exposed to the scientific facts that extremists want to censor from the minds of public school students. After the lesson a student from an atheist family said, “Evolution is silly.”
2. Currently, as a substitute teacher, I have contact with more public school students than ever and take advantage of every opportunity to provide them with the facts described above.
3. Evolutionists are bluffing when they say their beliefs are scientific. Be sure to look at the list of evolutionists who refuse the debate challenge from my friend Dr. Joseph Mastropaolo. See the list at http://www.csulb.edu/~jmastrop/. Click on the Life Science Prize at the bottom.
Sincerely,
Karl Priest
This is a joke right?
Let me clue you into something “professor”, if something has been shown to have happened, the odds that it happened are exactly 1 to 1. But go ahead and roll out your fanciful odds.
Sadly, this guy isn’t joking.
Just do a quick Google for “Karl Priest” and it all becomes clear.
(Glad to see that WV is nice and strict about letting crazy people teach in their schools!)
I particularly liked how he wore an ape mask to a WV School board hearing at which the board specifically rejected the teaching of creationism.
I want to know who doesn’t want me to know that Mr. Tinfoil Wimple up there is a retired public school teacher.