I'm going back to work in August....

I retired from public schools in '05 at age 43. I decided that was too young and went back to teach until '10 in private Christian schools.

This year I was off and did not like it.

I had a call back interview today at a dream school and got the job. I had put on my application that my top three choices of what to teach were math, science, and reading - in that order. They asked me if I would teach the junior high sciences and I said that I would.

I told the school board in the interview today that in the 7th grade curriculum evolution is presented and that I am going to teach it for what it truly is - metaphysics and flawed theory. I told them briefly that I reject evolution, not because of what the Bible says, but because of genuine science. Evolution and the laws of physics (which are observable and provable) cannot exist together.

I also told them that there used to be a state law that said that any teacher who was required to present evolution could also present creationism as an idea that is accepted by some. I told them that there is genuine science that supports creationism and that I would present the two ideas side by side and I would teach the children how to investigate each and how to assess the validity of each in the most unbiased way as a science teacher that I knew how. I said that it was my job to teach these students to assess other people's scientific ideas according to the scientific method and to teach them to think critically.

I said that I would not be preaching or singing hymns or holding an altar call, but only presenting true and genuine science and that my tests on that chapter would contain questions like "according to the theory of evolution...." or "according to the creation account in Genesis....". I said that I would not force any student to adopt either belief system, but that they need to know what both systems truly are about. If one is going to attack evolution, he or she needs to know what evolution actually says. And if one is going to attack creationism, the same rule applies. You cannot wholly reject what you have no understanding of. That's ignorance.

I took a deep breath after I said all of that, but I had to get my cards on the table before they said, "you're hired!". They had a few questions, but they were all in agreement that what I planned on was acceptable.

I'm excited about going back to work. I've missed it terribly. Pray for me. I have a tremendous amount of personal and professional ducks to get in a row in only 60 days!!

 

Benjamin, this is a public school. I was frank with them because ..... well, I'm a "frank" person. (I think that's an understatement!) Plus, they needed to know my personal philosophy about all of this before they hired me.

Jim, while I do not adhere to theistic evolution per se, that is one of the things that I plan to present also. We will spend some time investigating what components of each "match" and how some base their theistic evolutionary beliefs on science. I just want them to know all sides of the story and how science fits in both sides. My primary objective is to convey science - and nothing more. You are right. The Bible does leave out some pertinent progression. It says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". And it says that He spoke things into existence. But what happened on a molecular level? What happened when God spoke? Did things just pop into existence like a magic genie? I don't think so. I believe that God is much more of a Creative Genius than that.

Could there have been a Big Bang "in the beginning" - completely directed by God? It's quite possible that this is what He did. There is some scientifiic evidence that supports a portion of the Big Bang (red shifts, blue shifts, and expansions) and there is scientific evidence that does not (2nd Law of Thermodynamics). We will investigate it all. And I will be the first to tell them and teach them that we do not understand everything - neither from a Bible point of view nor a secular scientific point of view - and that we never will.

While I am a creationist, I fully admit that the Bible, while definitely containing science, is not a science text. And as a Christian, I also know that true science and the Bible do not clash. And I am a "young earther", but I do not necessarily adopt the rigid "6,000" year notion.

My ultimate focus is to get the children to develop a curiousity and to understand that questioning things based on that curiousity is a good thing, not a bad thing. That's how mankind has invented things and developed cures and gone into space and invented the wheel and discovered the relationship between the fig tree and the fig wasp - by questioning the status quo and saying, "but what if...." and "why?".

And I want them to understand science and to love it madly and to get the scientific method under their belt.