A Little Clarity

A more detailed explanation of Palin's "creationist" beliefs.

So it seems her position is not to teach creationism side by side with science in schools. Rather, she made an off the cuff remark about not stifling the debate if it comes up in discussion. I think this is a fair point - if indeed that was her point - and I agree discussion and free debate shouldn't be disallowed, even if there is religious and non-scientific discussion.

Some of the most informative and memorable classroom discussions from grade school and high school came out of taboo subject matter. Once in 7th grade, a kid was outraged at the teacher talking about the Japanese Internment in derisive terms. He was upset because a lot of his family had fought in WWII and her knew the horror stories about how American soldiers were treated in Japan and thought the teaching of WWII - by focusing on the injustice of the Japanese internment - was completely unfair. And he had a point - there was no discussion of Japanese atrocities committed during WWII in the class. And there aree plenty to discuss. Why in 7th grade are we taught about the Japanese Internment and the Holocaust and not about the Bataan Death March and the Rape of Nanking? This is a legitimate point.

Second interesting conversation was about God. Basically, a literature class in high school got hijacked one day into a discussion about whether God existed. It was one of the most energetic discussions I remember during high school. It had nothing to do with our books, the subject, and probably wasn't properly respecting the boundaries between church and state. But if you're on the ground and remember what it was like in public high school - the fear that teachers are able to mind control the students into believing a particular religious belief - let me just remind you - 75% of the students don't listen to the teacher, regardless of what she is talking about, and many of them oppose what he/she says for the simple reason he/she is saying it. To encourage a debate like this should it come up, isn't the worst of all things. Maybe attacking her as a creationist isn't really accurate.