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| Experiences As a Texas Science Teacher |
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| Following is an article written by one of our Texas Secular Society members, Mr. William Gonzalez, about some of his experiences with the Religious Right as a public school teacher attempting to teach true science in the Texas Public School System. Mr Gonzalez has authorized republication of this article by any person or group so inclined. My Trip Down The Rabbit Hole: My Experiences as a Science Teacher in South Texas I received my Bachelors of Science degree in Botany from the University of Vermont, and my Masters in Teaching Biology from Indiana University, Bloomington. I consider myself fortunate to have had as good an education as this country has to offer. While at Indiana University, I was a student in the Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology department. Upon graduation, I decided to accept a High School Teaching position in South Texas at a magnet school district that claimed to have a strong science emphasis. The districts two flagship schools are their Science Academy, and Medical High Schools. I thought that teaching, especially in a school district of a low socio-economic area of primarily Hispanic students was the best use I could put my own education. My own background is upper middle class; both my parents have college degrees. My father was a Spanish Teacher, and my mother a guidance counselor. My paternal grandparents were from Mexico, and my maternal grandparents were from Italy. The unambiguous teaching of evolution is the sine qua non of Biology, just as Quantum Mechanics is to modern Physics and Chemistry. The purpose of this account is not to restate what the best and brightest scientists have clearly stated, that evolution is a simple fact, not something to be “believed in,” but something to be understood in order to have a thorough understanding of Biology and the natural world. I invite the reader to go to the following web sites that have statements regarding the importance of teaching evolution: http://www.ncseweb.org/, http://www.sigmaxi.org/about/news/archive.mar98.shtml, http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/darwin/index.shtml, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/ ,http://www.nabt.org/sub/evolution/default.asp, http://darwin.eeb.uconn.edu/Documents/NABT.html As somebody who has been in the front lines of science education, I want to point out that what should be a rigorous science background for people living in the most powerful nation in the world is being undermined by religious extremism and creationism, not from outside, but from within the ranks of supposed science educators. The following anecdotal accounts all occurred, and are all true and accurate, at least as far memory serves. The first deals with a young Biology teacher, a recent graduate of a local University that is part of the University of Texas system. This teacher is enthusiastic, born and raised in South Texas, and a product of the local education system. This teacher’s assignment was to teach freshmen and AP Biology. From all appearances, this teacher did a good job, incorporating labs along with lecture and discussion. Except that this teacher uses the book, Of Pandas and People, as a supplement to the assigned text, a book that teaches “intelligent design,” a not very well veiled attempt by a fundamentalist religious group in Texas to promote a religious and anti-evolution agenda (http://www.textbookleague.org/53panda.htm ). It could be argued that this teacher uses this book as an exercise to teach critical thinking, and used the book to show what science is not. But that is not the case. This teacher openly admits to being a fundamentalist. The next deals with a conversation I had with teacher over the PBS series, Evolution. This series deals with evolution in a thorough and intelligent manner, and covers the friction between science and religion in a sensitive and thought provoking segment, Religion, What about God? The series includes videos, an online website, and educational materials for the classroom (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/ ). It is so well done, that I thought it would be a good idea for all the science teachers to show the series in their classrooms no matter what subject they taught (i.e. Physical Science, Chemistry, etc.). After all, the series deals with the scientific method, cosmology, chemistry, and is topical. The teacher commented that they could not show this program in their classroom because, “I do not believe in evolution.” This teacher majored in Science Education, and like the previous account, is a product of the local school system. Their teaching assignments included Physical Science and Chemistry. The third account deals with a teacher whose teaching assignments have included Physical Science, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. This teacher is very involved with their church (Catholic), and was a missionary in South America. This same teacher has expressed a decidedly anti-evolution and anti-science sentiment. In one incident the teacher hurriedly entered my classroom as both our classes were being taught. At the time, he was doing a dissection of the grasshopper. There was a term in the dissection that he did not know the meaning of, serial homology. I gave him the “short” explanation, specialized structures on the same organism that have been modified through selection to perform a particular task. The classic examples are the chelopeds, walking legs and swimmerettes of the crayfish. When I explained this to him, he looked clearly upset, and said, “you mean (choke), evolution? This teacher freely expressed his opinion to me that, “there is no good evidence for evolution.” In another poignant statement, this teacher expressed the opinion that, “science is just another religion.” We happened to be teaching in the same school when Pope John Paul II came out with his Magesterium to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Evolution (http://www.cin.org/jp2evolu.html ), which can be interpreted as reconciliation between the scientific theory of evolution and Catholic dogma. When I asked this teacher about this he said that, “people misunderstood the Pope’s statement, that he was not referring to organic evolution.” Although I admit to the questionable motives of the Pope, and to the obtuse language used in his statement, I think the Pope used the word evolution in the same way I, or any well educated person would use it when referring to Biology and Science. I could go on. I could include experiences I had when I taught for a year at the local University, and for a number of years at the Community College. But I think the point has been made. I worried in writing this that I would come across as being somehow anti-religious. That was not my intent. I am pro science as a tool for understanding the natural world. What can be done? I have questioned teachers, including the ones mentioned above. I went to the district superintendent to express my concerns over the teaching of evolution, and religion in the school (a public school), to which I was given a political shrug of the shoulders, and asked, “well, what do you think we should do Mr. Gonzalez.” Where is an agency that assures that science is being taught in science classrooms? The TEA? Governor Rick Perry? Rod Paige, the Secretary of Education in the Bush cabinet who once expressed his opinion that he prefers schools that teach Christian values? |
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