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>In my non-majors classes, my first statement on evolution is "Look, I get >paid exactly the same amount of dough whether you guys warmly >embrace Darwinism or reject it completely; I genuinely do not >CARE what any of you believe; that's not the issue." I actually DO care what the students believe. Creationism is simply no substitute for a theory of evolution, and a theory of evolution is crucial to understanding all historical aspects of biology. Do medical doctors need to understand historical aspects of biology? "Need" may be too strong a word, but they really should. > Gives 'em less of an excuse to feel persecuted. Mind you, some do anyway. If they think that having their beliefs challenged is the same as persecution, then they are too thin-skinned to (a) be a good student and (b) be a good doctor. Texas Tech is a state institution. Its faculty is under no onus to allow the religious beliefs of individuals students to shape their criteria for evaluating a student's mastery of the material presented in their courses. If a history undergraduate took a course on the Renaissance and refused absolutely to accept that the ascendance of humanism caused a blossoming of Western civilization that Church dogma was suffocating, then I wouldn't write that student a good evaluation for grad school either. Bill -- ----------------------------------------------- William P. Chaisson Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Rochester ph 585-275-0601 Rochester, New York 14627 USA fax 585-244-5689 http://www.earth.rochester.edu/chaisson/chaisson.html
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