Re: The latest from Stanford

In article <Xns991F491302207dickcrcomcastnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Dick C <foo.dickcr@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Ian Chua wrote in talk.origins

On Apr 27, 12:26 am, hamilton <kwandongbr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Apr 27, 12:59 pm, Ian Chua <i...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:> On Apr 26, 6:48
pm, Earle Jones <earle.jo...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:> Here's an interesting
lecture by Don Kennedy, PhD biologist and
former President of Stanford (Gene Scott's boss!)

"High school students who are taught creationism instead of
evolutionary theory lack the critical thinking skills that are
necessary for college, according to Stanford President Emeritus
Donald Kennedy. 'What the creationist alternative does to students
is to intercept and deaden curiosity,' he said during an April 4
lecture, 'Teaching Science: How, What and Who Decides?'"

So, all the math, physics, chemistry, and the rest of biology
teaching,
plus other humanities subjects do not cultivate critical thinking?

SNIP
Dr. Kennedy specifically contrasts creationism to evolutionary theory,
but I (and, I flatter myself to think others, as well) contrast
creationism to science in general.

You can believe, for example, in The Flood or mainstream geology but
not both very well.

I was taught that rainbows were a sign of God's promise to never again
Flood the world. I think I knew that was only myth but if people do
believe that, there goes the physics of optics. Light reaching us
from millions of light years away is another conflict with
creationism.

I don't know enough about the other subjects you mention to argue them
well. I seem to recall seizures and psychological problems in the
bible being caused by demons. It would take a lot of work to pray
away epilepsy, autism or other brain function disorders.

One can't critically test everything one is told; there isn't enough
time. Still, being told things are beyond question in areas as
extensive as what the bible covers must dampen questions about other
areas.

That's not the point in the first post on this thread.
The original point implies that high school students going to college
lack critical thinking skills despite all the math, sciences, and
humanities
subjects they have studied in high school.

And you are demonstrating exactly what the point is. You are critically
lacking in science and humanities. And one can learn math without learning
critical thinking skills....

*
Mathematics is to science as a hammer is to a house. It is a
necessary tool. It would be damn near impossible to do good science
without good mathematics, just as it would be damn near impossible
to build a house without a hammer.

But being a genius in mathematics says nothing about scientific
understanding. Being the world's foremost authority in hammers does
not mean that you can design a house.

In my career, we hired many excellent mathematicians. They filled a
very valuable role in our research. In general they analyzed
results.

earle
*

.

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