Posted by Ir (Helen) on: 03.21.2007 /
I ran across this news article the other day:
Bible essay stirs trouble for teacher
Lake Stevens student objects to questioning of creation story[...]
On Jan. 31, McDonald gave the class, which consisted of juniors and seniors taking it as an elective, an assignment to read an Iroquois tale of creation, “The World on the Turtle’s Back,” in the course textbook.
The textbook’s teacher edition suggests having students compare the creation myth with other creation accounts, as well as discuss their own concepts of good and evil.
McDonald used the textbook’s worksheet. On it, students were to give examples of how the Iroquois tale reflects four functions of myth - to instill awe, explain the world, support customs and guide people.
But he adapted the form, and had the class do the same for the biblical account of creation in Genesis. He provided a paraphrase of the story.
After they completed that assignment, he gave them another handout, titled “The Problem With Evil.”
That handout, which was not part of the textbook’s materials, asked questions such as how evil could exist if God is good and all-powerful.
Junior Lanae Olsen, 17, said it all went too far.
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Comment by: benjamin ady
1 03/21/07 2:48 PM | Comment Link |It seems like the prof was … kind of missing some basic facts about snohomish county when he decided to give this lesson. Snohomish county, one county to the north of my home shire, is … relatively conservative, christian, right wing, etc. Bit silly of him, IMNSHO, to have failed to foresee what happened.
anway, again IMNSHO, his lesson on “the problem of evil” was fairly poorly conceceived, and even more poorly presented. There must be better material available out there for talking about the problem of evil.
Comment by: Karen
2 03/21/07 3:56 PM | Comment Link |I’m just surprised he got away with teaching this for several years without a complaint!
Comment by: Mike O
3 03/22/07 2:26 AM | Comment Link |Maybe I’m just oversensetive to the word, and I don’t know if it was the journalist’s choice of words or the teacher’s, but using the word “myth” conjures a sense of a story that isn’t true.
Mtran and I discussed it a while ago. And in the scientific sense the word may be OK. But in a classroom with people talking in every-day-speak, “myth” has connotations of “nobody really believes this stuff.”
Using it in relation to creation was unwise because a lot of people do believe it and it comes across as belittling.
Comment by: Rachel
4 03/22/07 7:13 AM | Comment Link |But Mike, why would it be OK to refer to the Iroquois creation story as a myth, but offensive to refer to the Hebrew creation story as a myth? Only because there were no persons of Iroquois descent in the classroom to object?
I’m just so tired of this attitude in America that everybody has the right to not be offended. There is no such right. We live in a pluralistic society and people have got to be able to cope with that reality.
It’s hard for me to feel any sympathy for this girl because when I was a Christian student attending a public high school, and later community college, I dealt with things far more challenging than a dumb worksheet. Many times my beliefs were openly denigrated by other students and by teachers. And I never went home whining to my parents.
There was one time when my history teacher Mr. Jones asked if anyone in the class believed in God. Only two of us raised our hands and then he proceeded to mock belief in God. That time I did go and complain to another teacher I was close to and she basically told me to toughen up. So I did. And I have to say that, in spite of the harassment, Mr. Jones’ AP European History class was the best course I ever took in all of high school.
Comment by: Mike O
5 03/22/07 7:46 AM | Comment Link |Probably. If there were, and if they objected, they would have every bit the same case as the Christians did.
I couldn’t agree more, sista! We have no such right. But we do have the right to say/do something when we need to. It’s called protest.
Comment by: Rachel
6 03/22/07 8:10 AM | Comment Link |Mike, but on what basis did this girl have the right to protest? The teacher taught about the Hebrew creation story, an important piece of literature in Western culture, and referred to it with the appropriate literary term for that genre. He asked the students to do a literary analysis of the text and to grapple with some challenging questions. How was this girl being wronged? How does the outcome of this episode prepare her for real life in a pluralistic society?
Comment by: Mike O
7 03/22/07 8:18 AM | Comment Link |How is this any different than all of the Christian things people are trying to remove? There is story after story of people not being able to do or say one thing or another simply because it’s religiously “offensive.”
I just read a story on CNN yesterday about a teacher who was using the Bible and he was forced to stop.
Same shoe. Other foot.
Comment by: Staci
8 03/22/07 10:02 AM | Comment Link |Without being in the classroom it is hard to say if the teacher went too far, if the student was too sensitive, or both. But I do remember that in my teen years things were much more good or evil with very little space in between.
I had an english teacher who had the class read Psalms in the King James version. We also read Siddhartha and other texts with a religious basis. I remember feeling uncomfortable with the way he talked about the Bible - as an important piece of literature with some beautiful language rather than as a holy scripture. As a normal American teenager, I immediately felt offended. I told my conservative, christian dad about the dire situation - sure that he would support a “no homework protest.” Instead he looked at the things we were studying, the handouts, the assignments and said, “looks pretty good to me.” He said the bible was exactly as the teacher described, that it was ok for it to be both literature and scripture to me without the teacher saying so. Hm, looking back that was probably my first real life both/and vs. either/or lesson.
Comment by: Karen
9 03/22/07 3:31 PM | Comment Link |I see nothing at all wrong with comparing and contrasting various religious mythologies - whether people are offended by the word “myth” depends on their own world view. Part of education is learning to step outside of your own paradigm and recognize that others don’t share it.
As Rachel pointed out, calling the Iroquois story a “myth” - which we’d probably all agree with - might have offended a Native American in the class. Christian origin mythology shouldn’t get a “pass” just because many of the kids in the class may have been taught that it’s the literal truth.
However, this part …
… seems to step beyond the scope of a literature class and into asking the class to evaluate god’s existence. I don’t see where that’s relevant and I do see how it could veer dangerously close to “proselytizing” for atheism.
Comment by: Laura M.
10 03/23/07 5:15 AM | Comment Link |I agree completely with Karen on her comment here above, including the last part about ‘proselytizing for atheism’.
Rachel’s right too.
The difference is that those types of activities that promote one particular religion as being true, or allowed special access to or ‘proselytized’ in the classroom should not be allowed. However, the comparison of two pieces of literature with similar themes is perfectly reasonable and acceptable.
There are instances of individual teachers, schools, or school districts overstepping their authority and disallowing perfectly permissable behavior due to misconceptions about the law. Or perhaps just out of fear of lawsuits.
Comment by: Laura M.
11 03/23/07 5:21 AM | Comment Link |I don’t think it’s a question of did she have a ‘right’ to protest, but did she have a reason to.
The handout about discussing ‘the problem of evil’ should have been optional, among a selection of other options for writing topics. It shouldn’t have been a required assignment.
Comment by: Rachel
12 03/23/07 7:19 AM | Comment Link |Good point, Laura. Of course she has the “right” to protest whatever she wants to. But back to my earlier question: How does the outcome of this episode prepare her for real life in a pluralistic society? I think that this girl’s parents did her a real disservice in the way they handled this. In a few years when she is an adult, who is she going to run to for “protection” when she is exposed to viewpoints that make her uncomfortable?
And what message does this send about her faith beliefs? That her faith is to fragile too be subjected to scrutiny? If this girl and her family believe that the Hebrew creation story communicates truth (and I believe that as well), surely it can survive being subjected to a literary analysis.
Comment by: Karen
13 03/23/07 12:48 PM | Comment Link |This is a good point, Rachel. Many Christians are not prepared at all for life in a pluralistic society - and indeed they would like to deny that we even HAVE a pluralistic society. They want to make the U.S. a Christian nation and even employ some seriously revisionist history in their cause.
But in the case of the individual, the consequences can be devastating. My evangelical neighbors have two sons who both were homeschooled for some time and then went to private Christian high schools.
The younger son is getting ready to graduate from a conservative Christian college. The older one was originally accepted to a very good secular college some years ago, but he dropped out after one semester when he took a science class and the teacher brought up - gasp! - evolution. He absolutely could NOT handle having his very narrow beliefs challenged.
He wound up graduating from a trade college, and is working now and seems fine. But I think it was a shame that he was limited by his religious belief system in that way.
Comment by: Mike C
14 03/25/07 4:54 PM | Comment Link |This student is way too oversensitive. Unless there is more to what the teacher said or wrote in his essay, I don’t at all see what was so offensive about this assignment.
The Biblical creation story is a myth, in the literary sense of the word. There should be nothing offensive about a literature teacher labeling it as such, even to those who also believe it to be a historically true story. There is such a thing as a “true myth”, i.e. a historically true story that also fulfills mythic purposes.
And why not discuss the Problem of Evil? I’ll admit that it may be slightly out of place for a literature class - but since (sadly and scandalously) most public high schools don’t bother to actually teach philosophy, I suppose it has to be worked in somewhere. If they really want to be picky, it would have been easy enough for the teach to assign a short story that deals with the problem of evil and then use that as the justification for utilizing his essay.
But why is discussing the problem of evil offensive? It’s not like it’s only an atheist topic. In fact, it’s one of the major topics of discussion in theology and Christian philosophy, and has been for the past 2000 years. I mean, any non-Christian students could have been just as justified in complaining about having to discuss Christian theological issues.
This girl’s attitude and that of her parents just bugs me. By refusing to listen to differing viewpoints they are just contributing to the overall dumbing-down of America. If she didn’t like what the teacher was saying the proper academic response would have been to argue her point of view in class or in an assignment - not shut down the whole conversation. If the teacher had then given her a bad grade for her views then she might have cause to complain. But I agree with Rachel, until then she should just suck it up and deal with it.
Comment by: Rachel
15 03/25/07 9:58 PM | Comment Link |I can definitely relate to that, Staci!
Comment by: LSHS student
16 05/18/07 12:08 PM | Comment Link |This may be a little late from when this was published, but i actually attend LSHS, the school where Lanae Olsen attends and Mr. McDonald teaches. I don’t think this was a problem of religion, but that Lanae actually just didn’t like this teacher. Any one who has ever met her can understand her close-minded snobby attitude>>plain and simple, she did not like the teacher, and kids these days will do evil things to get someone in trouble if they do not like them. Unfortunately, he did something that she could call him on. Lanae Olsen is a disgrace to our school, sure she is sweet to certain people, but her ignorance, arrogance, and hypocrisy has got to go. Mr. McDonald never shoved his beliefs down kids throats, I think maybe the assignment was just a little too hard for poor little Lanae, she recently didn’t get accepted for the cheer team next year because of her bad grades..I don’t know how her parents could be proud of her in any way other than her cute looks.