Re: [asa] Oregon teacher fired after making Bible references

Well, the school board certainly had a right to fire him if he was deviating
from the curriculum, which he probably was, and undoubtely the actual stuff
he was teaching was dumb. OTOH, why is teaching religious viewpoints NOT
part of developing "critical thinking" skills? Does "critical thinking" now
mean "thinking exactly like us and not like those crazy religious people?"

On 3/20/07, PvM <pvm.pandas@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4645374.html
>
> Seems that 'critical thinking' has now become a code word for 'teach
> religion'. It was only a matter of time for parents to come to the
> realization that 'critical thinking' as proposed by creationists is
> all but...
>
>
>
> SISTERS, Ore. — During his eight days as a part-time high school
> biology teacher, Kris Helphinstine included Biblical references in
> material he provided to students and gave a PowerPoint presentation
> that made links between evolution, Nazi Germany and Planned
> Parenthood.
>
> That was enough for the Sisters School Board, which fired the teacher
> Monday night for deviating from the curriculum on the theory of
> evolution.
>
> ...
>
> Helphinstine, 27, said in a phone interview with The Bulletin
> newspaper of Bend that he included the supplemental material to teach
> students about bias in sources, and his only agenda was to teach
> critical thinking.
>
> "Critical thinking is vital to scientific inquiry," said Helphinstine,
> who has a master's degree in science from Oregon State. "My whole
> purpose was to give accurate information and to get them thinking."
>
> ....
>
>
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Received on Tue Mar 20 14:02:25 2007