Vardy Hunting 09 - the Doc gets a dig in
Created | Updated Apr 10, 2005
Dear Hazel Moore,
I thank you for your response on the issue of education department policy regarding duel instruction of hard science and ‘Creation’ belief within the context of a single lesson!
This proposed situation would undoubtedly lead to serious confusion in the minds of students and possibly to the inevitable detriment of both disciplines!
I would like to raise several points…
‘As a result of media interest in the teaching of creationism at Emmanuel College’
I do not think that media interest is the prime ‘whistle blower’ …they tend to sensationalism anyway…My particular unease was engendered by a lecture given at Emmanuel College on 21st Sept 2000 by the then head of Science at Emmanuel college Gateshead as Steven Layfield.
…I apologize for the length of the piece below but it is, I believe, just a taster of the prevailing attitude within at least this CTC college system… the full text of the lecture I include as an attachment to this mail!
Science in Schools
(Biology, Chemistry and Physics)
In the light of all that has been said, it is surely necessary for us to proceed into the 21st century class-room with some caution. Modern technology which has greatly impacted our lives in countless ways provides the ordinary man in the street and his children whom we teach with considerable reason to suppose that their confidence in the proclamations of modern Science are well-founded. There is therefore an understandable tendency for pupils to admire and respect what they are persuasively told by popular media Science pundits. Science teachers who affirm Biblical authority must be constantly on guard. Flawed orthodoxy is fervently preached at the very highest level in colleges and universities throughout the land. The high priests of secular humanism wield a great deal of power and their influence is regrettably noticeable in the formal statements of the National Curriculum and School Examination Syllabuses. Textbooks are produced whose authors inevitably 'kow-tow' to the dictates of examining bodies and regrettably, most teachers in turn, blindly follow on unquestioningly.
A teacher who expresses ideas contrary to the prevailing secular world-view knows that he risks suspicion and scorn from both his students and his colleagues. Truly the fear of man is a great snare (Pr 29:25). But as challenging and as revolutionary as it may seem, Christian teachers must grasp this particular nettle if ever they are to make significant spiritual in-roads into the hearts and minds of today's youngsters and tomorrows generation of cultural transformers. Church leaders too must do their part. Apart from the mercy and grace of God, as long as Christianity is preached as a 'religious optional extra', all we can hope to secure in the lives of the children under our charge is a weak, existential piety in which the historical Christ must be squeezed and trimmed to fit. We urgently need thinking Christians who understand Scientism's subtle message and mistakes to speak out with clarity, conviction and courage against it. The same classroom practitioners must, in its place, be prepared to express without compromise the integrity and infallibility of the Biblical historical narrative however loud and disagreeable the objection. Such ambassadors must strive to be 'as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves' (Matt 10:16).
‘. Such ambassadors must strive to be 'as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves' (Matt 10:16).’
It is quite obvious that the agenda is set deceive not only the education authority that fund the school but also the general public that provide the innocent fodder for such a dubious enterprise!
‘ the College is meeting the requirements of the curriculum as they apply to CTCs.”
What does this mean?
Is there a different curriculum for the CTCs….because that is how it reads?
‘It is not in breach of its Funding Agreement’
Well certainly not when the inspector is visiting and impossible to judge when a letter is the primary method of inquiry… the but can you be sure that the intention of this college is not hidden under the gloss?
I also feel that Education in Great Britain should not be a feeding frenzy of interested entrepreneurs intent on promoting one ideal or another…And using tax payers money to do so…if nothing else it is a dereliction of duty by the education department that affects students….as well as the public at large…We will all live to regret that if it is the case!
I have extremely serious doubts that this college, in particular, are honouring an open and balanced world view…
I thank you for your response on the issue of education department policy regarding duel instruction of hard science and ‘Creation’ belief within the context of a single lesson!
This proposed situation would undoubtedly lead to serious confusion in the minds of students and possibly to the inevitable detriment of both disciplines!
I would like to raise several points…
‘As a result of media interest in the teaching of creationism at Emmanuel College’
I do not think that media interest is the prime ‘whistle blower’ …they tend to sensationalism anyway…My particular unease was engendered by a lecture given at Emmanuel College on 21st Sept 2000 by the then head of Science at Emmanuel college Gateshead as Steven Layfield.
…I apologize for the length of the piece below but it is, I believe, just a taster of the prevailing attitude within at least this CTC college system… the full text of the lecture I include as an attachment to this mail!
Science in Schools
(Biology, Chemistry and Physics)
In the light of all that has been said, it is surely necessary for us to proceed into the 21st century class-room with some caution. Modern technology which has greatly impacted our lives in countless ways provides the ordinary man in the street and his children whom we teach with considerable reason to suppose that their confidence in the proclamations of modern Science are well-founded. There is therefore an understandable tendency for pupils to admire and respect what they are persuasively told by popular media Science pundits. Science teachers who affirm Biblical authority must be constantly on guard. Flawed orthodoxy is fervently preached at the very highest level in colleges and universities throughout the land. The high priests of secular humanism wield a great deal of power and their influence is regrettably noticeable in the formal statements of the National Curriculum and School Examination Syllabuses. Textbooks are produced whose authors inevitably 'kow-tow' to the dictates of examining bodies and regrettably, most teachers in turn, blindly follow on unquestioningly.
A teacher who expresses ideas contrary to the prevailing secular world-view knows that he risks suspicion and scorn from both his students and his colleagues. Truly the fear of man is a great snare (Pr 29:25). But as challenging and as revolutionary as it may seem, Christian teachers must grasp this particular nettle if ever they are to make significant spiritual in-roads into the hearts and minds of today's youngsters and tomorrows generation of cultural transformers. Church leaders too must do their part. Apart from the mercy and grace of God, as long as Christianity is preached as a 'religious optional extra', all we can hope to secure in the lives of the children under our charge is a weak, existential piety in which the historical Christ must be squeezed and trimmed to fit. We urgently need thinking Christians who understand Scientism's subtle message and mistakes to speak out with clarity, conviction and courage against it. The same classroom practitioners must, in its place, be prepared to express without compromise the integrity and infallibility of the Biblical historical narrative however loud and disagreeable the objection. Such ambassadors must strive to be 'as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves' (Matt 10:16).
‘. Such ambassadors must strive to be 'as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves' (Matt 10:16).’
It is quite obvious that the agenda is set deceive not only the education authority that fund the school but also the general public that provide the innocent fodder for such a dubious enterprise!
‘ the College is meeting the requirements of the curriculum as they apply to CTCs.”
What does this mean?
Is there a different curriculum for the CTCs….because that is how it reads?
‘It is not in breach of its Funding Agreement’
Well certainly not when the inspector is visiting and impossible to judge when a letter is the primary method of inquiry… the but can you be sure that the intention of this college is not hidden under the gloss?
I also feel that Education in Great Britain should not be a feeding frenzy of interested entrepreneurs intent on promoting one ideal or another…And using tax payers money to do so…if nothing else it is a dereliction of duty by the education department that affects students….as well as the public at large…We will all live to regret that if it is the case!
I have extremely serious doubts that this college, in particular, are honouring an open and balanced world view…
