Re: Why cant students critically analyze evolution?

On Oct 31, 10:21 am, "\(M\)-adman" <g...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Frank J wrote:
I read that some students receive as much as 16 hr. of evolution in
various science classes throughout high school. That’s a full waking
day. There are on the order of 1000 days during the high school years,
so that means that for as much as a tenth of a percent of their waking
hours students are forbidden to critically analyze evolution. I find
that appalling. Yes I know that the material they are taught has
withstood 150 years of critical analysis, and that some (most?)
teachers do let students critically analyze the material to the extent
possible given the limited classroom time and the primary requirement
to teach well-established concepts before considering failed
alternatives. And I know that, for the other 99.9% of their time,
students are free to indulge in as many long-refuted
misrepresentations as they want, and are not required to critically
analyze * them * in the least.

But that’s not enough for me. As a taxpayer I demand that all of us
taxpayers share the burden of paying for students to learn what * I *
want them to learn, and not just during that measly 99.9% of their
time that they are already free to do so.

Both presidential candidates want to share the wealth. Isn’t it about
time we do that?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three points stick out here.

1) That evolution has "withstood 150 years of critical analysis"

and

2) "students are forbidden to critically analyze evolution"

and

3)  You want students to be taught what "* I * want them to learn," because
you pay taxes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll address the second point first.

It is NOT just evolution that students are forbidden to critically analyze.
It is everything. Students today are leaving schools with ZERO critical
thinking skills.

I agree that most do. But not because they are forbidden to.


They question nothing. And they assume information in the
books they read are accurate without question. This has been the downfall of
many societies in history. In fact, the best way to brainwash a society is
with books. Books that have only one point of view in them.

That may be true for humanities and social studies courses, but math
and science are not about POVs, but about what *works.* Granted, some
(most?) books and teachers could explain the subject better. But the
sleazy propaganda promotes by such people who rave about garbage like
"Expelled" not only explains far worse than the worst text or teacher
out there, it deliberatey misleads and exploits common misconceptions.
And before anyone whines about me providing supporting references here
and now, I won't take the bait. Lurkers can check for themselv


There has been "book burnings" throughout human history. Why? In an effort
to stifle thought and alternative ways of thinking that governments deemed
incorrect. A modern day term for this would be called 'social engineering'.
And that is exactly the way America seems to be headed. This is evident
reading usenet these days. Information taught in schools today seem to
preclude any other outside thinking that school boards deem incorrect.

Take for instance the creation/evolution debate. Even of one does not
believe in God there is a useful comparison to be made between creation and
evolution.

And as I said, students are already free to learn that 99.9% of the
time during high school, and 100% of the time thereafter.


If for no other reason other than to have two sides of the coin
elvauated by showing the other way of thinking.

And while they're evaluating the pseudoscience side they need to see
why those on that side are increasingly covering up their own
irreconcilable differences, and unilaterally retreating from anything
that resembles a potential alternate theory. But of course anti-
evolution activists want to *censor* that.


One way of thought would be
the physical side of thinking with facts and figures and the other side
being the more creative side of the human existence such as imagination and
spirituality. This is called balance and every human in existance needs
balance.

More startling then students not having two opposite view points to consider
these days is the fact that none of them know how to ask the most basic fact
finding questions. Which makes them an easy sell for commerical advertisers
for sure.

Most people sure are the latter, but in your dreams is status quo
science education responsible for that.


Asking the questions of who, what, when, where,why and how is
fundemental when diging for truth and accuracy when reading or hearing
anything.

Absolutely. Now ask Dembski why he refuses to even speculate on those
crucial questions.



But i see no evidence of students today even knowing how to use
these basic questions when reading material before them. The assumption is
what they are reading is correct and they then take on what they read as
their very own opinion with out even questioning the basics and asking
themselves "Is What I Am Reading True"?

The tell-tale signs of this lack of basic skills regarding fact finding is
evident. Women have been told for so long that one image of beauty is
acceptable that we have such things as bulimia and anorexia in western
society. We have people that live way beyond their means on credit because
they are sold in the ideas that the biggest house and newest car is the only
way to happiness. Why? Because they believe in what they see and read in the
media without (1)having an alternate view and (2)with out applying the basic
fact finding questions to what they are reading or hearing.

To address the first point: "That evolution has "withstood 150 years of
critical analysis""

Well, that is an obvious lie. Why? Because evolution has not been allowed to
be compared to an alternative view point.

Wrong, and you know it.

In Dembski's own words:

"I've just gotten kind of blase about submitting things to journals
where you often wait two years to get things into print. And I find I
can actually get the turnaround faster by writing a book and getting
the ideas expressed there. My books sell well. I get a royalty. And
the material gets read more."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dembski

Lurkers can also check out "Expelled Exposed" to see who is really
"expelled".

There has been no comparison that
is critial of evolutions assertions regarding the existance of various
species. Evolution puts forth a single idea on how life got from point A to
point B without any comparison to that premise at all. Which is the same as
i describ above regarding a book showing only one point of view on a topic
and then burning the other book.

Evolution is simply a theory that fits some of the observations so far. This
is not, and should not, be considered the only theory that fits such
observations. A comparison needs to be made in the name of objective
edcuation. Because as we all know, theories change with new evidences. It
could very well turn out that evolution is wrong when such new evidences are
found.

Finally, to addrss the third point of: "You want students to be taught what
"* I * want them to learn," because you pay taxes."

Well, that is just nonsense. This type of thinking is part of the problem
and not part of the solution on many levels. Students need an objective
edcuation. NOT just what YOU want them to learn.

Hello. That was part of the sarcasm.


--

This has been yet another:
 "helping the evolutionist' to understand" moment, with:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
·.¸Adman¸.·
^^^^^^^^^^^- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

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