Big Bang?

[jbor at bigpond.com]

On 29/09/2005 lsavage at westmont.edu wrote:

> I think most people on this list are above the overt generalizations 
> that so
> plague the Creation/Evolution debate in this country. (So lets please 
> try to
> avoid them.) Not all Creationists conflate 'Evolution' with 'Natural 
> Selection'
> or think Darwin created Hitler. Not all Evolutionists are Heathens 
> hell bent on
> destroying God, either.
>
> In my opinion polarizing the issue will only upset everyone. Instead 
> we need to
> appreciate the fact that each argument requires us to evaluate what we 
> believe
> and how we've come to believe it. Because belief is a type of faith 
> (at some
> point and in some way). It gives teachers the opportunity to discuss 
> methods of
> arriving at responsbile conclusions... which is something I would very 
> much like
> to see children learn in school.

Well put, and welcome.

Rather than presenting "knowledge" as a fait accompli, as a corpus of 
"facts" to be memorised, whether in Science or History or other 
disciplines, what should be taught alongside traditional "content 
knowledge" is how that "knowledge" is constructed within the 
discipline, what is valued and the values and methods which underpin 
the "scholarly habitus", and also the practical applications to which 
such knowledge is, or might be, put. In this way it is the evolution of 
knowledge which becomes the central focus of education.

best