Happy Atheist Forum

General => Philosophy => Topic started by: teyla on February 18, 2009, 12:38:15 PM

Title: Is this wrong?
Post by: teyla on February 18, 2009, 12:38:15 PM
My Biology teacher started on the subject of Evolution the other day.
I am surprised they would even bring it up, but anyways.
I don't care if any of the other kids say anything about evolution, that does not bother me. But my teacher,
 she refers to evolution as a "myth" and has stated openly that what she is teaching is not true in the least.
I really wont to say, "keep your biased F&#(ing opinions to yourself".
but i can't!  :rant:
I am thinking she is required to teach some of it.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: McQ on February 18, 2009, 01:22:20 PM
It's wrong, she's wrong, and she shouldn't even be teaching Biology if she's going to state that in a classroom. I'd challenge her on it, and do it with all the ammo available.
Start here:  http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/ ... olkit.aspx (http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/extras/evolutiontoolkit.aspx)
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: karadan on February 18, 2009, 01:24:08 PM
Make a scene. I would.

I find it funny she thinks of herself as a biologist.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: SSY on February 18, 2009, 01:25:59 PM
She is a moron.

Spend your next class asking her for evidence about why evolution is wrong. You can either refute her answers then and there, or if you wish come here and we will help you with the answers. Proving her wrong in front of the whole class should do the trick.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: SSY on February 18, 2009, 01:25:59 PM
She is a moron.

Spend your next class asking her for evidence about why evolution is wrong. You can either refute her answers then and there, or if you wish come here and we will help you with the answers. Proving her wrong in front of the whole class should do the trick.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: gwyn428 on February 18, 2009, 09:28:10 PM
Where is your school located?
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: Whitney on February 19, 2009, 12:37:19 AM
It is a violation of separation of church and state for her to claim that evolution is wrong due to her personal religious reasons.  So unless she can prove it is wrong without using her Bible (and by doing so win the nobel prize for fixing a huge error in science reasoning) she was out of line.  It is not a teacher's place to impose personal beliefs on the students.  If they have religious reasons for not accepting evolution they can either have another teacher cover that topic or teach a different subject.

If you could get her on tape talking about her beliefs in class, we could report her to the ACLU for you since the tape would be sufficient evidence for an investigation.

Btw, your teacher should be well aware of the laws and probably assumed she could get away with it since your town is apparently very religious.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: teyla on February 19, 2009, 01:57:56 AM
QuoteWhere is your school located?
Arkansas
QuoteProving her wrong in front of the whole class should do the trick.
Remember who we are dealing with, a class full of bible belt Christian's.
QuoteIf you could get her on tape talking about her beliefs in class, we could report her to the ACLU for you since the tape would be sufficient evidence for an investigation.
I would have to make her agree to be taped, it is also illegal to tape someone without there permission correct?
I would report her but i am sure that would kinda blow my cover  :borg:


 :D
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: G.ENIGMA on February 19, 2009, 02:06:24 AM
Quote from: "teyla"I really wont to say, "keep your biased F&#(ing opinions to yourself".
but i can't!  :blink:

She is not required to foist her own personal religious thoughts and false opinions about the science of evolution onto you and your classmates.

Please be careful how you approach this, but for your own personal growth you need to approach it with her, however dont at any cost use bad language which will allow her to put you at fault.

Just lay down some quiet calm facts and "innocently" :rant: her more than you can believe. Good luck, & most of all have fun :banna:
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: Will on February 19, 2009, 02:12:27 AM
Anonymous probably won't matter. She will ignore you. Needless to say, something absolutely, positively must be done. Recording someone in public is legal, but schools are not considered public even if they are publicly funded. This means the answer likely lies in the school rules. Read them thoroughly, and see if students are allowed to record lectures and lessons. If no rule exists, ask a member of the school staff (such as a principal or vice principal). Once you've gotten the go-ahead, as I'm reasonably sure you will, then record an entire lesson. Do not attract attention to yourself by asking the obvious questions (what about the tens of thousands of fossils? what about the mountains of evidence for transitional forms? what about the consensus in the scientific community?). Just let her dig her own grave.

Send the recording to the ACLU: http://www.aclu.org/affiliates/arkansas.html

Thank you for standing up for intellectual honesty and freedom of truth.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: Whitney on February 19, 2009, 03:26:33 AM
Quote from: "Will"Recording someone in public is legal, but schools are not considered public even if they are publicly funded. quote]  

I thought it was legal in both public and private settings as long as one member of the conversation knew they were being recorded.  In the case of a classroom, that member is the student (as long as they participate at some point during the recording).  I looked online and Arkansas is one of the states which has the one party law:  http://www.articlesbase.com/national,-s ... 31017.html (http://www.articlesbase.com/national,-state,-local-articles/audio-recording-laws-in-the-us-431017.html)  

However, it would be safer to check the school rules.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: Will on February 19, 2009, 04:00:53 AM
My thinking is that the teacher would put 2 and 2 together if teyla asked her permission to record. If teyla were get the administrator's permission, she'd then have cart blanch to record all teachers without having to clue them in.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: teyla on February 19, 2009, 11:42:33 PM
I left an anonymous letter under her door stating my dis-approval and my ability to report her to the ACLU and some other things.

So... we shall see how this playes out.  :D
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: Ihateyoumike on February 20, 2009, 01:37:53 AM
Quote from: "Will"My thinking is that the teacher would put 2 and 2 together if teyla asked her permission to record. If teyla were get the administrator's permission, she'd then have cart blanch to record all teachers without having to clue them in.


I have agreed with your take on this situation so far Will, as well as the other advise given here so far.
I have a concern with the advice to bring this to the attention of an administrator/teacher/principal/etc... however. If this is happening in a school located in a bible-belt state, it may be hard to find someone in a position of authority within the school to help without clueing the teacher in on the situation. The odds seem pretty high to me that many (if not most) of the other members of the school administration may reside on the side of the teacher, and would inform that teacher of the situation.

I think something definitely must be done about this, but without the proof that taping a class session would provide, it would simply be swept under the rug. I would think that, should you choose to pursue recording a class (which I think you should) you should, be very wary about who you speak with prior to obtaining the recording, and make sure that you completely "play by the rules" on your end of this situation.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: Will on February 20, 2009, 02:16:27 AM
No, just ask the administrator for permission, off hand, to record lectures.

"Oh, hello Mr. *vice principal*, it's okay if I record stuff in class like lectures and stuff, right?"
My guess is that this would be replied with a "Of course." If it's not, abandon the plan and wait until you're a lawyer when you can really do something about it.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: teyla on February 20, 2009, 03:01:48 AM
QuoteNo, just ask the administrator for permission, off hand, to record lectures.

I would like to give the teacher a chance, if it continues after today I will try that.
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: SallyMutant on February 20, 2009, 05:10:31 AM
It boggles my mind that  someone like this teacher winds up studying science, gets a degree in biology, and  feels a calling to teach science to  kids, then spews anti science nonsense. This  reminds me of when I was in  Jr. Hi science  (early 70's) and the teacher had an open question session. I asked "What's the deal  with ghosts?" I was shocked when, instead of citing science to debunk the paranormal, or using some  unanswered questions of science to discuss the paranormal, he immediately quoted some new testament chapter and verse thing that said people could not come back as ghosts. At that time thought "What kind of science teacher is this?"
Title: Re: Is this wrong?
Post by: nikkixsugar on February 21, 2009, 04:43:54 AM
Quote from: "teyla"My Biology teacher started on the subject of Evolution the other day.
I am surprised they would even bring it up, but anyways.
I don't care if any of the other kids say anything about evolution, that does not bother me. But my teacher,
 she refers to evolution as a "myth" and has stated openly that what she is teaching is not true in the least.
I really wont to say, "keep your biased F&#(ing opinions to yourself".
but i can't!  :rant:
I am thinking she is required to teach some of it.

I would seriously consider going to some sort of administrator about this.