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"Evolution = Satan" in High School Biology

posted by n1 on Friday July 04 2014, @02:11AM   
from the certified-misinformation dept.

McGruber writes:

The young journalists at The Southerner, the student newspaper at Grady High School in Atlanta, Georgia, recently broke the news that creationism and other Christian religious views are incorporated into the Biology curriculum used by the City of Atlanta Public Schools.

A PowerPoint shown to a freshman biology class featured a cartoon depicting dueling castles, one labeled "Creation (Christ)" and the other labeled "Evolution (Satan)." Balloons attached to the evolution castle were labeled euthanasia, homosexuality, pornography, divorce, racism and abortion

The PowerPoint, which has more than 50 slides largely consisting of material about evolution, was downloaded from SharePoint, an APS file-sharing database for teachers. It was uploaded by Mary E. King, a project manager at APS who has also uploaded more than 2,000 other documents. Phone calls and emails to King have not been returned. Tommy Molden, science coordinator for APS, also did not respond to requests for comment.

Students were offended by the cartoon:

"[I] have gay parents, and [the cartoon] said that evolution caused homosexuality and it implied that to be negative, so I was pretty offended by it," [freshman Seraphina Cooley] said.

Cooley said that another student emailed the administration complaining about the PowerPoint.

Freshman Griffin Ricker, who is also in Jones' class, said [Biology class teacher Anquinette Jones] got angry with the class when she found out students had notified the administration.

"She had a 10-minute rant," Ricker said. "She yelled and said, 'This is on the APS website, and it was certified.'"

In case of soylentnewsing, the student reporting is also posted on a local Atlanta newspaper blog.

• Re:Original article is pure flamebaitRe:Original article is pure flamebait (Score: 3, Informative) by McGruber on Friday July 04 2014, @12:57PM

  by McGruber (3038) on Friday July 04 2014, @12:57PM (#64127)

  Did anyone even read TFA, or even further, the original powerpoint?

  I read the full article before submitting it. You seem to have missed the 11th and 12 paragraphs:

  Freshman Lily Soto, who switched from Jones' biology class after the first semester, said Jones had refused to teach evolution when the class approached the portion of the cirriculum.

  "She always had random comments about [creationism]," Soto said. "If someone would ask if we were going to learn evolution, she was like, 'No, I don't teach that.'"

  And the 21st thru 25th paragraphs:

  Sophomore Isabel Olson, who took biology from Jones last year, said that this cartoon was not the first instance of creationism being discussed in class. She said that one time, a classmate asked how cells were created.

  "Ms. Jones' answer was [something like], 'It's divine, God created us.'" Olson said.

  Olson also said Jones had the students debate creationism versus evolution.

  "One day we had to go home and prepare a short debate to do for the next class about creationism versus evolution," Olson said, "We had to prepare the pros and cons of creationism and evolution and present the ideas."

  Olson said she went to talk to administrators about the religious aspect of Jones' teaching, but they didn't take any action.

  Parent

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• Re:Original article is pure flamebait(Score: 2) by Silentknyght on Friday July 04 2014, @04:17PM

  by Silentknyght (1905) on Friday July 04 2014, @04:17PM (#64219)

  I read the full article before submitting it. You seem to have missed the 11th and 12 paragraphs:

  I did read that. Is the issue with the teacher or the cartoon?

  The article(s) present the cartoon as the issue, but I don't see the cartoon as the issue; it depends on how it's presented in the context of the rest of the powerpoint presentation, which can be construed (on its face) as largely pro-evolution. That is to say, the presentation does appear to present the scientific evidence of evolution without any other obvious commentary.

  I fully agree that the teacher's evident bias is disagreeable. It's likely the root cause of the issue.

  Parent