Re: textbooks

Steven Schimmrich (schimmrich@earthlink.net)
Fri, 05 Dec 1997 22:01:51 -0500

At 02:52 PM 12/5/97 -0500, Jan de Koning wrote:

> Probably, but the students going into the natural sciences courses (I
>believe you mean those, not psychology, economics etc., which are sciences
>too.) are in great danger, depending of course on which teacher they get.
>I taught mathematics, and I remember a student crying in my office, because
>he had to believe evolution, because the prof said so. Now, seeing an
>attitude like that, no wonder that many Christians avoid so-called science
>courses. Mind you, I have had only limited interaction with high school
>curricula, except, that I saw that incoming students now know a lot less
>than incoming students 45 years ago.

I would oppose such a professor also.

A student who came to me asking if they had to "believe" evolution in
order to pass a class I'm teaching (for example, historical geology next
spring) would be told "No, you don't have to believe it BUT YOU DO HAVE TO
KNOW WHAT THE PREVAILING SCIENTIFIC VIEWPOINT IS." There's no excuse for
remaining ignorant of the subject, or only exposing yourself to ICR-type
publications (as many Christians do), and still claiming it's all a bunch
of nonsense. At least let your unbelief be grounded in knowledge of what
the "enemy" :) believes (I read all the young-earth creationist materials
so I have little patience with vocal evangelistic young-earth creationists
who've obviously never picked up a college-level science text).

- Steve.

--      Steven H. Schimmrich              KB9LCG    schimmri@kutztown.edu      Department of Physical Sciences               Kutztown University      217 Grim Science Building, Kutztown, PA 19530      (610) 683-4437      http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/s-schim     Fides quaerens intellectum