MetaFilter posts tagged with religion and education

"You don’t like it? Find another place to live."

zarq — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:53:46 -0800

"Them and Them." "Rockland County, New York's East Ramapo school district is a taxpayer-funded system fighting financial insolvency. It is also bitterly divided between the mostly black and Hispanic children and families who use the schools and the Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish majority who run the Board of Education and send their children to private, religious schools." Also see: A District Divided. Multi-page link to the NY Mag article. Journal-News: East Ramapo school district proposes dozens of staff layoffs, sports cuts in 2013-14 budget NYT (from last July): Rockland County Parents Ask State to Oust 5 Orthodox Jews on School Board The "East Ramapo Underground" radio show mentioned in the article is also on YouTube. Preserve Ramapo site has additional information on the area and links to region-related news articles.

That's me in the corner

MuffinMan — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:37:34 -0800

The findings for England and Wales from the 2011 British Census have now been released. The BBC provides a handy guide to changes by area while The Guardian has a neat infographic and a set of Top 10 Charts. The headlines: The UK has more immigrants, especially from India, Poland and Pakistan and most clearly in London and the South East. In 2011 13% (7.5 million) residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK; in 2001 this was 9% (4.6 million). Data England and Wales have become more ethnically diverse. The White ethnic group accounted for 86.0% of the usual resident population in 2011, a decrease from 91.3% in 2001 and 94.1% in 1991. Data Fewer people describe themselves as Christians. Between 2001 and 2011 people who identify as Christian fell from 71.7% to 59.3% and an increase in those reporting no religion rose from 14.8% to 25.1%. Data Women have become more important in the labour market. The Census estimates that there are 602,000 more people who are employed than the Labour Force Survey (LFS) indicates. Most of the observed differences are for women, with the Census estimating that there are 538,000 more economically active women than the LFS and 272,000 fewer economically inactive women than the LFS. Data Notable points: The resident population in England and Wales was 56.1 million in 2011, a rise of 3.7 million from 52.4 million in 2001. Married people are now in the minority. The number of people renting from a private landlord has nearly doubled in 10 years. There are 8,259 Jedis in Wales and 176,632 across the UK. There are 1,893 Satanists, 2,400 Scientologists and 7,906 Rastafarians. Fewer than 1 in 5 people in Wales are Welsh speakers. Boston, Lincolnshire, has the highest proportion of Eastern Europeans. Oxford has the most agnostics. Four out of five people said they were in good or very good health. But Wales, where a quarter of adults are unqualified, dominates the poor health league. 84,000 people consider themselves Cornish, more than double the figure for 2001. More than 1m people identify as mixed race. Some quirks of the survey: Blackpool is the divorce capital. Kensington is a hub of miners. Rushmoor, Hampshire has the most Buddhists. More than a quarter of people in the Isles of Scilly do not have central heating, apparently. Islington has the most singletons. King's Lynn has a lot of caravans. People work hard in the Lake District. A third of people in Blaenau Gwent, southeast Wales do not travel abroad. Norwich is godless. People in South Buckinghamshire have the most cars.

Beauty, Virtue and Vice

netbros — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:01:26 -0800

Most of the prints in the exhibit "Beauty, Virtue and Vice: Images of Women in Nineteenth-Century American Prints" were designed simply to please the eye, but they are also useful to historians who would like to understand how nineteenth-century Americans thought about the world in which they lived. Although prints are often works of imagination (even when they are grounded in fact), they still have much to tell us about the time and place in which they were created. Highlights from this online exhibit include: True Womanhood — with a Map of the Open Country of a Woman's Heart. This map of a woman's heart tells us much about what the artist and his society believed about women. This illustration perfectly captures nineteenth-century ideas about womanhood. Women as Objects of Beauty and Desire — Prints depicting beautiful women were often influenced by other forms of popular culture. Some of the finest prints produced in the United States were copies of admired European and American paintings. Print artists also created their own original representations of heroic characters from novels and theatrical presentations. Ideal Beauty — Many nineteenth-century Americans believed that women had unique abilities, talents, and propensities that were natural attributes of their sex. Women were thought to be naturally dependent, nurturing, and well suited for domestic labor. Such ideas complemented the notion that men were defined by opposite characteristics, which included independence and bravery; strength of character, mind, and body; and a natural talent for mastery and dominance over their environments. Threats to the Ideals of True Womanhood: Slavery — Slavery was almost unquestionably the most important issue of the nineteenth century. Women were frequently at the center when slavery debates were translated into visual images.

The Cartoon Guide to Life, the Universe, and Everything

Rhaomi — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:20:53 -0800

Larry Gonick is a veteran American cartoonist best known for his delightful comic-book guides to science and history, many of which have previews online. Chief among them is his long-running Cartoon History of the Universe (later The Cartoon History of the Modern World), a sprawling multi-volume opus documenting everything from the Big Bang to the Bush administration. Published over the course of three decades, it takes a truly global view -- its time-traveling Professor thoroughly explores not only familiar topics like Rome and World War II but the oft-neglected stories of Asia and Africa, blending caricature and myth with careful scholarship (cited by fun illustrated bibliographies) and tackling even the most obscure events with intelligence and wit. This savvy satire carried over to Gonick's Zinn-by-way-of-Pogo chronicle The Cartoon History of the United States, along with a bevy of Cartoon Guides to other topics, including Genetics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, The Environment, and (yes!) Sex. Gonick has also maintained a few sideprojects, such as a webcomic look at Chinese invention, assorted math comics (previously), the Muse magazine mainstay Kokopelli & Co. (featuring the shenanigans of his "New Muses"), and more. See also these lengthy interview snippets, linked previously. Want more? Amazon links to the complete oeuvre inside! Reading note: All the book titles in the post above link to readable versions on the web. Some of the older Cartoon Guides and the first chunk of the original Cartoon History of the Universe comics (through Volume 9 -- ancient China) are available in full; the rest, including the (two-part) Modern World series and The United States, are available partially through Harper-Collins' free book preview feature, which includes the first dozen or so pages of each book and then jumps ahead randomly from there to the end. So pay attention to the page numbers on those links to avoid getting caught off guard by the (unannounced) page-skips! Amazon links:

Cartoon History: The Cartoon History of the Universe I (Vol. 1-7): From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great (1990) The Cartoon History of the Universe II (Vol. 8-13): From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome (1994) The Cartoon History of the Universe III (Vol. 14-19): From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance (2002) The Cartoon History of the United States (1991) The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution (2007) The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 2: From the Bastille to Baghdad (2009) Cartoon Guides: The Cartoon Guide to Genetics (1983) The Cartoon Guide to the Computer (1991) The Cartoon Guide to Physics (1992) The Cartoon Guide to (Non) Communication (1993) The Cartoon Guide to Statistics (1994) The Cartoon Guide to the Environment (1996) The Cartoon Guide to Sex (1999) The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry (2005) Other: Kokopelli & Company in Attack of the Smart Pies (2005)

The Philanthropist "Godman"

zarq — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 09:19:41 -0800

"For the progress of humanity, work alone is not adequate, but the work should be associated with love, compassion, right conduct, truthfulness and sympathy. Without the above qualities, selfless service cannot be performed."
On Sunday morning, Indian guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba passed away. He leaves behind a massive empire, several million mourning devotees worldwide, an extensive religious philosophy, a great deal of controversy and a legacy of large-scale philanthropic projects in India, including free hospitals and mobile medical facilities, a free university and schools, and other efforts which included supplying clean water to hundreds of rural villages. Some of the articles in this post mention the Indian measurements crore and lakh. Lakh is one hundred thousand. Crore is ten million. Background / Teachings * Wikipedia * Documentary on Vimeo: Who is Sai Baba? * Thinkexist has over 1100 quotes * Discourses (speeches and writings):1953-2004 and 2002-2010. * Official site * saibaba.ws has a high volume of articles and information from his followers Additional Obits (Various outlets are reporting his age at 84, 85 or 86.) * The Times of India has an obit, a timeline of his life and brief biography. There's also a short editorial which gives some insight into his teachings and refusal to "dabble in politics." * Bloomberg * The Telegraph (Delves into the various controversies surrounding him, including accusations of pedophilia an abuse, religious indoctrination and the murder of four people in an alleged assassination attempt at his ashram in 1993. This is the same article that was linked above the fold.) * BBC: In Pictures * The Guardian * The Hindu * FoxNews Controversies * 2004 BBC documentary Secret Swami, which alleged widespread child molestation and a murder cover-up: Article / Transcript / YouTube Video: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Playlist here.) * Skeptic's Dictionary: Sai Baba. (Has a number of links to articles (and a short obit blog post by James Randi) detailing various accusations and controversies. Includes a link to a Salon.com article from 2003: "Is Sai Baba a pedophile?" * SaiCritic * A site by one of his followers which responds to "smear campaigns."

Religion and America's Academic Scientists

zarq — Sun, 30 May 2010 01:42:57 -0800

Science vs. Religion: a new book, Science and Religion: What Scientists Really Think by Rice University sociologist Elaine Ecklund, discusses the results of her detailed study of 1,646 scientists at top American research universities. Among her findings: ~36% of those surveyed not only believe in God but also practice a form of closeted, often non-traditional faith. They worry about how their peers would react to learning about their religious views. Interview with the author from the Center for Inquiry's Point of Inquiry podcast. Also, here's a webcast from an author discussion forum held at Rice University on April 7th. The concern: By not engaging with religion more fully and publicly, "the academy is really doing itself a big disservice," worries one scientist. As shown by conflicts over everything from evolution to stem cells to climate policy, breakdowns in communication between scientists and religious communities cause real problems, especially for scientists trying to educate increasingly religious college students.
The interviewer on the podcast posts the Intersection blog over at Discover Magazine's site. He's been discussing Ecklund and her book for a few weeks now: Prior to Ecklund’s study, the most prominently cited study of religious beliefs among elite scientists that I know of was by Edward Larson and Larry Withham in Nature in 1998. They surveyed members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and found that only 7 percent embraced a belief in God. At the time, this result got a lot of news attention, and it continues to be discussed today–e.g., in Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. Ecklund’s findings are very different–she gets 36 percent belief in God, and 50 percent religiosity among scientists at elite universities (the difference is apparently due to the large percentage of scientists who claim some type of religious identity but do not believe in God; many are Jewish).
Here's an additional essay (pdf) from Eckland from 2007 that predates her final survey results. From the Social Science Research Council's (SSRC) essay forum for their Guide to Religious Engagement Among American Undergraduates 2008 Blog post: Beyond the God Delusion Editorial from the Chronicle for Higher Education: Should God attend chemistry class? Gives an alternate perspective to Ecklund on Christian evangelicals in the classroom.

"Greetings from Idiot America"

zarq — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:20:20 -0800

Charles Pierce, author of the 2005 essay "Greetings from Idiot America" decrying the rise of faith-based anti-intellectualism, has expanded his rant into a full length book: Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free. (via) Previously on MeFi. (link on that post is defunct) Anti-intellectualism has been around for ages, and has not been restricted to the US. But the American cultural divide was thrust further into the national spotlight during the last election cycle. Further reading: Susan Jacoby's book: The Age of American Unreason (interview on left-wing blog Alternet here,) and 1964's Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter. Pierce appears regularly on NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!, and is a feature writer for Esquire, Slate, The American Prospect and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, usually on sports. He's also the author of several books, including Hard to Forget: An Alzheimer's Story.

Why there are still monkeys

homunculus — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:15:26 -0800

Why are there still monkeys?

3 to 10 classroom hours

Artw — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:09:59 -0800

16% of US science teachers believe human beings have been created by God within the last 10,000 years. 25% of science teachers spend some time teaching about creationism or intelligent design. 12.5% teach it as a "valid, scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species". 2% say they do not cover evolution at all. Teachers who have taken more science courses themselves devote more time to evolution - "This may be because better-prepared teachers are more confident in dealing with students' questions about a sensitive subject."

Surrealistic Lilliputian Realm

homunculus — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:56:09 -0800

The Inner Life of an Intelligently Designed Cell? Remember The Inner Life of a Cell animation (discussed here)? Apparently the Discovery Institute (recently discussed here) is showing it in presentations with a new title and narration, and without attribution.

Love on Campus: Why We Should Encourage an Eroticism (of the Mind) Between Professor and Student

shivohum — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:20:45 -0800

Love on Campus: Why We Should Encourage an Eroticism (of the Mind) Between Professor and Student. Yale English professor William Deresiewicz argues that the newly-emerged stereotype of professors as "pompous, lecherous, alcoholic failures" is in the main due to our culture's fear of and inability to understand the true intimacy between professor and student: that of the mind. Cf. controversial Hindu teacher-student relationships, the same in Christianity, or merely observe Oscar Wilde: "I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself."

The Pursuit of Happyness II: This time, it's a cross-cultural documentary

ibmcginty — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:44:28 -0800

Three small classes of high school students, one in Watsonville, California, one in Jos, Nigeria, and one in Dharamsala, India, are currently collaborating on "Project Happiness". The students are "exchanging their thoughts about what happiness is, and how to behave in ways that promote happiness all around them," drawing on the Dalai Lama's Ethics for the New Millennium (useful 50-page pdf study guide; positive review from Christian Century magazine). In their work creating a curriculum for the book, the students communicate via email, a blog, and videos (an instructor in India describes the project's focus; a "what life is like here" video from India). The podcast section of the official site currently features just one introductory video posted a few weeks ago. The project will culminate in a meeting of all three classes in March 2007 in Dharamsala. A book and a PBS documentary are planned.

Remembering the 1974 Kanawha County Textbook Controversy

Otis — Fri, 12 May 2006 07:21:12 -0800

Culture Wars: School buses are riddled with sniper bullets, gas lines are cut, windshields broken, and bomb threats disrupt schools daily. Teachers and custodians must remove nails and broken glass from their school parking lots each morning, and several school buildings have been damaged by early morning firebombs and dynamite. One minister has prayed publicly for the deaths of three board members. 'It was simply overwhelming.' Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (via)

Not to be confused with anthropology

Jim Jones — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:26:05 -0800

The World of Waldorf: where children learn to read after the second grade . Critics speak out against i t, but there's dancing, and the moon was once part of earth. But, don't believe everything that you read online ! One of the minor links is a pdf.

Mmm, church and state, mmmmmmm.

Pretty_Generic — Mon, 24 Jan 2005 13:27:13 -0800

Uhoh. Tony Blair's new Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is almost certainly a member of masochistic Catholic cult Opus Dei, as featured in The Da Vinci Code.

prove it!

exlotuseater — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 17:28:12 -0800

"Students in tax-supported schools are being taught that evolution is a fact. We are convinced that evolution is a religion masquerading as science and should not be part of any science curriculum." Dr. Kent Hovind is offering $250,000 to anyone who can prove evolution. Dr. Hovind is also known for his 17-hour award-winning seminar series. While you're there, you can buy all sorts of goodies like fossil replicas! And if that's not enough, there's a great FAQ. [MI]

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School

acrobat — Thu, 25 Nov 2004 03:46:54 -0800

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School? WTF? That's what I thought when I first read it. I read more and again I said: WTF? This can't be right! So, I looked around a bit and I realised some people had already a different perspective on this.

SCOTUS rules for seperation of church and state for once.

skallas — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 08:47:11 -0800

SCOTUS rules for seperation of church and state for once. The court's 7-2 ruling held that the state of Washington was within its rights to deny a taxpayer-funded scholarship to a college student who was studying to be a minister. That holding applies even when money is available to students studying anything else. "Training someone to lead a congregation is an essentially religious endeavor," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the court majority. "Indeed, majoring in devotional theology is akin to a religious calling as well as an academic pursuit."

Stay between the lines.

sarajflemming — Thu, 04 Dec 2003 13:37:48 -0800

Teacher sues over limits on history curriculum. "A seventh-grade social studies teacher in Presque Isle [Maine] who said he was barred from teaching about non-Christian civilizations has sued his school district, claiming it violated his First Amendment right of free expression."

Roy

filchyboy — Sun, 24 Aug 2003 13:41:52 -0800

Roy Ten Commandments Moore (discussed here) received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in January of 2003 from the Methodist Episcopal Church, USA (temporarily deactivated, someone, call billing!) & the National Clergy Council. The National Clergy Council has placed "Ten Commandment" plaques on the walls of politicians such as George Bush, Trent Lott, Joe Leiberman, & Rick Santorum among others. The web site of the National Clergy Council reads "There remain thousands of additional government officials yet to receive the Ten Commandments Plaques." and asks for help. Chief Justice Moore had to travel all the way to Washington DC to receive his honorary Doctorate of Divinity. It would have been far cheaper to pay $7.95 online. In case you were wondering a Doctorate in Divinity means an "understanding of the relationship between Man, His Creator, and the rest of the Cosmos." It's good nice to know that such a moral man is was the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Web Project Seeks to Digitize Religious Images for Theological Libraries

turbanhead — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 11:57:23 -0800

Web Project Seeks to Digitize Religious Images for Theological Libraries The American Theological Library Association's Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative aims to create a large database of religious images to spare research librarians the expense of digitizing documents that other institutions have already scanned

Don't believe in evolution? Don't get a recommendation.

Gilbert — Thu, 30 Jan 2003 09:16:52 -0800

Don't believe in evolution? Don't get a recommendation. The Justice Department has been asked to look into the case of a Texas Tech biology professor who has made it clear that you won't get a recommendation from him if you believe in creationism. In his online notes to students, Dini writes "If you set up an appointment to discuss the writing of a letter of recommendation, I will ask you: 'How do you think the human species originated?' If you cannot truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer to this question, then you should not seek my recommendation for admittance to further education in the biomedical sciences." The Liberty Legal Institute, calls the policy "open religious bigotry." Texas Tech supports Lini, saying the decision on whether to recommend someone is a personal one. Clearly, it should be a professor's call on whether to give a student a recommendation or not, but did Lini make himself a target by laying out this criteria this way?

High school Satanism club prompts parental outrage

falameufilho — Wed, 02 Oct 2002 12:53:14 -0800

High school Satanism club prompts parental outrage some kids in a high school start a club called Satanist Thought Society. As expected, everybody gets offended, especially the Christian Society. It can be argued, though, that the the Satanist Society has as much right to exist as the Christian Society. Is this just a 1st ammendment issue or is there a moral question to be thought out? (via Camworld)

msacheson — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 08:43:26 -0800

Yoga in the classroom? EGADS! That reeks of religious implications, say parents in Aspen, Colorado. "For some families, the chanting that accompanies a selection of yoga techniques creates a challenge for separation of church and state." Aspen Elementary says the pilot program "was proposed as a way to help kids cope with their return to school. Rowdy tots could be calmed and readied for class work after recess using a series of relaxing breathing and stretching techniques."

Ohio school board considers adding "Intelligent Design Theory" to science curriculum.

starvingartist — Fri, 08 Feb 2002 07:50:42 -0800

Ohio school board considers adding "Intelligent Design Theory" to science curriculum. I wish I could find better links than these. I've been hearing about this on NPR every morning this week, but have been unable to find any news links - I can't even find the Ohio State School Board site. They are debating whether or not to start teaching IDT, which seems to be Creationism with a pseudo-scientific background. Here is a transcript of comments that were given to the board by John Calvert, J.D., a supporter of IDT. Anybody know any more about this theory?