On 5 Feb 2003, Miguel Roig wrote: > <snip>Tuesday's NY Times. Here are the first > few lines of the article. > > LUBBOCK, Tex., Feb. 2 � A biology professor who insists that his > students accept the tenets of human evolution has found himself the > subject of Justice Department scrutiny. > > <snip> when he posted > a demand on his Web site that students wanting a letter of > recommendation for postgraduate studies "truthfully and forthrightly > affirm a scientific answer" to the question of how the human species > originated. > > For the rest of the article go to: > http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/03/education/03PROF.html >
It was also in Monday's Chronicle of Higher Education. I mentioned it this morning in class (as I had just finished discussing evolution). For me a critical bit of information is how his question was worded for which he wanted a satisfactory response. According to CHE, it was: "How do you think the human species originated?" Based on that, I have no problem in asserting that the professor was wrong and that his demand was outrageous. This is because he has no business telling his students what they must think. His role is to ensure that they understand the theory of evolution. An appropriate question for him would have been: "How do scientists think the human species originated?" That would assess intellectual understanding of the theory, and a recommendation could reasonably be made contingent on the student having the knowledge to make an appropriate response. But not that he or she must personally agree with it. This reminds me of the occasion a few years back when _Scientific American_ fired their brilliant "Amateur Scientist" columnist when they discovered he didn't acccept the theory of evolution. Shame on them! Stephen ______________________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips _________________________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
