How you should interpret my actions
It is my belief that you have strongly held beliefs about what should happen in classrooms that run exactly counter to what I want to happen. When you (or anyone really) makes snide remarks hinting at those positions, I want to verify this, and want to better understand how someone can reasonably hold those beliefs.
As you note, I'm not interested in telling you what faith you have, etc. I'm instead interested in the practical question that affects people I care about, namely What should we do in science classrooms? It may feel to you that I'm challenging your belief system, but I really am trying to divorce that one question from your belief system. To the extent that the two don't get divorced, I may come across as challenging your faith. But I'm honestly not trying to.
Perhaps I should clarify. To me it is quite possible to say, "I think that schools should teach X." while also saying, "I think that X is wrong." For instance while subject admissions tests remain what they are, I think that schools should teach much of the current math curriculum even though I think that the way that it is taught sucks, and the priorities for choosing subject matter are horribly off. Or in something closer to the instance under discussion, I think that schools should give students perspective about what fraction of the public believes various things, even though many of the things which are widely believed I don't accept.
To me that isn't promoting religion. That is giving students perspective on the society that they will enter and live in.
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
