RE: Rookie Questions

["Stewart, Dwight" <Dwight.Stewart@VLSI.com>]

   When I was unlucky enough to be taught biology in a Texas public school,
evolution was a taboo subject. :-)  But, then (to be totally honest)
football is about the only topic of interest in Texas schools.  I CAN say
that - I'm a native Texan. :-) When I took Zoology1/Botany1 as a Freshman in
college, I was lucky enough to have had an enlightened Aunt who suggested
books on the topic BEFORE I entered college.  So, university level biology
did not present a problem for me.  That wasn't true for many of my
contemporaries.  I'm not sure just how one can get very far in teaching
biology WITHOUT at least a rudimentary discussion of evolution.  But - then
again - I'm a physicist - so I'm accustomed to the public understanding
close to nothing about the basic laws of nature.  :-)!!!  IMHO - science
should not be subject to public whim, superstition, or censorship (see
Gallileo).  I personally don't much care what someone else chooses to
believe.  That's how I've kept MY head on straight in an academically
challenged place like Texas.  Sure didn't have much competition when going
for scholarships or grants at university.  Straight A's in a Texas school
were a breeze!  But seriously, I do feel a bit sorry for kids that have
their education curtailed due to someone's superstition.  Having said that,
perhaps natural selection was at work when my Aunt loaned me those books on
Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, & dinosaurs all those years ago?  Even if
the Tyrannosaur was dragging his tail. :-)  Personally, I don't think a
really gifted mind CAN be wasted; curiosity will compel it to look closer.  

Dwight  
 
        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Philidor11@aol.com [SMTP:Philidor11@aol.com]
        Sent:   Friday, September 18, 1998 7:01 AM
        To:     larryf@capital.net
        Cc:     dinosaur@usc.edu
        Subject:        Re: Rookie Questions

        To confirm my prior posting about avoiding evolution in the
classroom, I am
        including a hyperlink to the preface of Teaching About Evolution and
the
        Nature of Science, National Academy of Sciences 1998
        <A
HREF="http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/evolution98/preface.html";>nat'l
        Acad of Sciences, Teaching About Evolution</A>