James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
... one of your child's high school teachers told his class that "evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven." Even worse, what if that teacher went on to say:
"If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong.... He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered your pains for you, and he's saying, 'Please, accept me, believe.' If you reject that, you belong in hell."Well, it's all on tape, thanks to a student raised in a secular home who decided no one would believe what was happening unless he had proof.
Not too surprising, it's the student who made the recordings that's getting the cold shoulder, according to a New York Times piece today. The New Jersey high school has taken "corrective action" but "declined to say what the action was, saying it was a personnel matter."
"I think he's an excellent teacher," said the school principal, Al Somma. "As far as I know, there have never been any problems in the past."Right.
This is why I write this blog.
Comments
I don't know that the reaction is altogether inappropriate. In my limited experience children love bizarre teachers.
My own Latin teacher was Greek and the story was put about that he had been left behind by the Romans. Certainly he used to act out the stories of ancient Rome in the most vivid way, in Latin, as if he had been there himself. The class would fill in as the minor characters. The story of the Gauls and the Senators was particularly good although the nearest we could get to authentic Gaulish was Welsh.
A couple of years ago my son's own Latin teacher (who is depressingly sane) fell ill and the school brought a supply teacher in. The class were a bit snooty at first, and my son who is normally very tolerant said to me "she only knows Church Latin." But one lesson she started talking about angels and demons. "Who knows the names of some demons?" Rather to her surprise, the class rattled a few off, with their natures - an odd sampling of various sources from Milton to computer games no doubt. "Oh, very good." The names kept coming. "Right, let's get on." But it was too late - they knew they'd got a right'un. She left shortly afterwards, for unconnected reasons, but if any of the students had shopped her for her weirdness they'd certainly have been called over by the others for spoiling the fun.
Posted by: Gav | December 18, 2006 12:43 PM