Arlo Now that we have established that the sun is the center of our solar system and the earth is not flat, shouldn't other 'theories' be retired to the history books. Now that we have evolved in our reasoning and thinking, ( and no one says we are done yet) that old ideas should be left out as 'that-was-then.' Should intelligent design be mentioned in passing or given the time and effort as solid alternative. while you are at it, do you teach the Buddhist, native Indian, and Hindu creation stories.
But progressive thinking is not encouraged in this culture. Next time you are watching a movie, foreign vs. domestic, pay attention to the 'books on the shelf' in people's residences. To me that says a lot. Back to Fish and his classroom tactics. I see his point and idea, but I think it's half baked. If some passion is not injected into the students, then they are merely warm bodies completing the attendance sheet. > > [Arlo] > Greetings, Khlaed. Always good to see your voice among the chorus > (and cacophony) here. The story is interesting, and Fish seems to > think advance the notion that "critical thinking skills" are really > > all higher education should be about. In many ways, I agree with > him. > But the problem backs up into curriculum development where the > limited time of the classroom mandates that certain positions are > included while others are not. While Fish seems to feel that > "Intelligent Design" should be given equal time to "Darwinian > evolution", he doesn't indicate criteria on which of any other > competing theories should be assessed. Do we teach the KKK's theory > > that black people are inferior and Jews are subhuman in our > humanities classes alongside theories that profess all humans to be > > equal? Do we teach each and every creation story alongside the Big > Bang as equally valid alternate theories? Do we teach that the > eating > of human flesh (cannibalism) is a view of cuisine equal to > vegetarianism, presenting "both sides" in a discussion about > agriculture? And, consider this, do we present the theories that > Bush > was behind the 9/11 attacks as equally worthy of respect as those > that it was perpetuated by Al Qaeda? Do we teach alchemy alongside > chemistry? Do we teach theories which place the orbit of the sun as > > going around the earth, or the earth as the hub around which the > entire universe spins, alongside "competing" theories that place the > > earth as going around the sun? > > That is, Fish makes the argument that universities should expose > students to every possible theory about everything equally and > without prejudice, and the let the students decide. What happens > when > an student in an astronomy class professes that the stars are merely > > tiny dots God uses to decorate our night sky, and denies that they > are balls of hydrogen burning billions of lightyears away? Or when > an > anthropology student turns in a paper about Bigfoot being the > missing > link between aliens and humans? Or when a student hands in a term > paper proclaiming Jews to be rats who, while the should be > exterminated, never were. Do we praise these students for selecting > > one theory from among the multitude so presented? > > Its a nice idea in many areas, but I think its a bit naive and > devalues the entire endeavor of "knowledge". My thoughts anyways. ____________________________________________________________ Click to become a massage therapist and work for yourself. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3l9de5km510aIzGFIUKJr8yL5brUwh7bx80EuRMqqwpODek0/ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
