A 1st for me: Today a student told me that the earth is 2,000 years old.

[Pale Blue Dot]

I told him that he should talk to his science teacher about his idea, and that there certainly were a lot of differing opinions.

I teach English is a school that uses mythology as a major part of our curriculum, so religion comes up pretty often. There are always very outspoken Christians in the classroom, and in general, they have certain things in common:

1. They're smart kids;

2. They're behavior problems (talking out of turn, disrupting class, etc.);

3. They act as if they think very highly of themselves and treat others with contempt;

4. They come from relatively poor (in wealth) families.

I don't ever tell kids what to think in my classroom. But I do hope that I can, in some small way, encourage kids to ask questions and challenge themselves and others.

[FM Arouet666]

1. At least correct his stupidity.

Inform the little lad that he is certainly mistaken and that the real crack pot answer is 6000 years. I would hate for him to get a bad reputation amongst the young earther crowd. :sarcasm:

[LeftishBrit]

2. 2000?

Assuming that he's a Christian, does he think that Jesus was born at the same time as the Earth? I assume that his confusion is that he thinks that the year number refers to the number of years since the world began, rather than since Jesus was born - as indeed is the basis for the Jewish calendar, where the year is 5770.

I wonder if your characteristics (1), (2) and (3) (smart, disruptive and arrogant) are correlated more with the outspokenness than the Christianity. I.e. there may be other hardline creationists in class, but if they're less articulate or more polite, they may show it less.

In Britain, even strong Christians tend *not* to be such hard-line literal creationists - perhaps because it's not as prominent a feature of the Church of England as of some other Protestant denominations.

[salvorhardin]

3. I agree with FM Arouet666

Don't tell him what to think, but just give him a brief rundown of why science makes his belief pretty unlikely, then give him a brief rundown of what creationists/ID proponents think. Then point him to NCSE or Panda's Thumb as well as the Discovery Institute site. Use it as an opportunity to perhaps get him to start thinking critically about his beliefs. Ultimately the decision is his and his alone, but never underestimate the potential for a single teacher to influence a kid.

[YankeyMCC]

4. Your response seems reasonable

I think like salvorhardin suggests you could've gone further and provided some of the info you know yourself but perhaps just referring the student to the science teacher (presumably the science teacher is competent and not a creationist :) ) was the best bet.

Certainly as a teacher you are there to present what you know and offer up all the knowledge you can share. Personally I would've explained a bit about the science and concentrates theories in science then explain that some people have tried to discern the age of the Earth from mythologies and that the xian mythology ususlly ends up with an age of 6K but that mythologies are not the place to learn about the age of the earth.

Of course that last part would probably get me in serious trouble :)

[John Gauger]

5. Who cares about differing opinions?

While there are certainly differing opinions, those opinions are all held by ignoramuses. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. This is not open to dispute and you are not imposing anything religious on him by saying so. It's a simple fact.

[realisticphish]

6. fundamentally, no

but as a teacher, he can't approach it from that angle. If he shuts the kid out like that, the kid will resist any further discussion on the matter. If he dangles little carrots, even if not entirely scientific, in front of the kid, he can lead the kid to the real answer, rather than forcing him at gunpoint.

[John Gauger]

7. That's absurd.

We should not be expected to humbly submit that, y'know, maybe the Earth goes around the sun, all life is made up of cells, an element's identity is determined by the number of protons in each of its atoms, and the Earth is 4.5 byo. These are facts. Ignore them at your peril. If you want to argue them, you had better have either the math or the duplicable scientific experiments to back yourself up.

There are extant writings from Sumeria and Egypt that are greater than six thousand years old. A teacher's job is to educate, not to entertain ignorance. When I put down on a test that Garfield was Arthur's VP, it was marked, in red ink, "WRONG." I was not gently admonished that other people think that it was the other way around, I was simply told that I was wrong, because the facts were otherwise.

[realisticphish]

11. yeah i know

but the fact that garfield was arthur's vp was not a fact that you had been taught since you were born, that was believed by your parents, and is a fundamental part of your view of life.

In science and skepticism, nonsense gets no kid glove treatment, and that's the way it should be. But telling a kid "you, your parents, and the authority figures you trust most are wrong, and fuck you if you think otherwise" is absurd in itself. You can't go zero to 60 with creationist children, or you risk losing them completely. Who do you think they're going to trust; their parents and minister, or their teacher who tells them "you're wrong" and leaves it at that? I'm not saying to endorse woo, but to slowly and carefully measure out the science until they reach the real conclusion.

Remember, to them, the facts are NOT otherwise. The "facts" are what the bible says, and that's a gigantic step to get over.

edit: not to mention that i'm assuming that these are middle school/high school kids. If it's a college kid, well, it's a different situation

[John Gauger]

12. I think I see what you're saying.

It's important that he learn to utilize science to find the correct answers. And it's also important that he know how it is that we know that he is wrong.

[Deep13]

8. Some of those differing opinions are just plain wrong.

Is the Earth 4.5 billion years old or 4.6? I don't know. I do know that any number in the thousands instead of the billions is 100% dead wrong. Religion, especially this aggressive variety, makes people think that believing something makes it true.

Anyway, be careful or else Jesus will hop on his Tyrannosaur and kick your ass.:eyes:

[mr blur]

9. Well it IS! At the very least.

[onager]

10. The Earth is the same age as Jesus?

:rofl:

Maybe he confused the two.

About 2 miles from where I sit typing this, I can visit Greek cemeteries that are 2,300 years old.

And 200 km from here at Giza, there are some fairly famous structures twice as old as that.

:banghead:

[frickaline]

13. Maybe set up an in class debate on the subject?

If structured well, it could be an eye-opener for some.

You could even have someone take the ridiculous point of view that the earth is only 300 years old and try to back that up for debate purposes.

:rofl:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. I had a kid tell my he could pray the AIDS away.

Being a history teacher, I decided not to correct him.

:crazy: