Thursday, October 18, 2012

Your Discipline, Your Teaching Career, Your Pupils

We discussed in class today whether or not teachers who live in districts where Intelligent Design is mandated should actually teach it. The class also concluded that due to the non-public nature of the disobedience as well as the presence of children, this teacher should merely go along with the status quo. However, there was the question of the "respect of the discipline --meaning that biology teachers have an obligation to teach the truths of their subject, and therefore should only teach evolution.

However, I believe that there is a different course of action that teachers should take. even though this action isn't civil disobedience. The teachers that are required to teach Intelligent Design should resign from their position as educators in these school systems. Hopefully, with several teachers dropping out of the school system, it will send a message that the actual biology community does not condone the teaching of Intelligent Design.

It may be rough for teachers to leave their profession, but they have an ultimate obligation to the truths of their discipline and an expectation to not corrupt the minds of the youth. Even though this plan of action is not civil disobedience, it still sends a similarly effective message.

2 comments:

  1. That is certainly one principled option, though perhaps a very costly one. We might respect someone for taking such a principled stance, without necessarily criticizing someone else who chooses a different course.

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  2. I missed class & what sounds like a very interesting conversation. but I think that if truth is the ultimate goal, then biology teachers resigning rather than being forced to teach Intelligent Design, is a form of civil disobedience/satyagraha. True, a very costly one.
    "When the petition is not accepted, they can resign their membership." (Satyagraha-Non-Violent Resistance. Pg 313).

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